Peace, easily the most favourite toast at the Georgian supra (table) originated many centuries ago due to the country’s turbulent history in which wars against intruders of different flocks became a part of everyday life. But while it is easy to recite at a Georgian feast, it is difficult to maintain. Over the course of thousands of years, not a single generation has managed to avoid war, including my own. In this column I will focus on the willingness to fight for one’s homeland.
As the Georgian member of the WIN/Gallup International Association, GORBI has recently conducted a nationwide opinion poll in Georgia as part of the End of Year Survey. We have been conducting the survey continuously over the past 20 years, exploring various issues and comparing the country to global and regional players.
During the second half of 2014, over 64,000 respondents in 65 countries were asked: “If there was a war that involved your country, would you be willing to fight for your country?” Not surprisingly, Georgia ranked number 8 worldwide for the willingness of its citizens to fight an invading enemy force. It is not hard to guess who that enemy would be if another war breaks out in the near future. How long we would be able to fight is another question but five days is our latest benchmark.
With a hundred years having now past since the onset of the ‘Great War,’ it is noteworthy to see how people responded to the question. Globally, 60% of respondents said that they would be willing to take up arms for their country while 27% would pass on the opportunity. Also, in more than half of the countries surveyed, over 50% said they were ready to risk giving up their lives in a war.
Of all the regions surveyed, Western Europe proved the most reticent to fighting for their countries, with just 25% saying that they would fight while about half (53%) stating they would not fight for their flag. This contrasts sharply with people from the Arab nations of the Middle East and North Africa, where people are the most likely to be willing to fight for their countries (77%) followed by those living in Asia (71%).
44% of respondents in the USA said they would fight for their country whereas the figure was just 27% in the UK, 29% in France and 18% in Germany. Despite being widely recognised for their neutrality, 39% of people from Switzerland said that they would be prepared to go to war for their country. Just to the south, Italians proved to be least willing to bear arms for their country with 68% revealing they would refuse to do so.
With more than two thirds (76%) of its adult population ready to bear arms in the event of an invasion, Georgia finds itself in the top 10 of the “warrior” list. Neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia also ended up in the same list, which is not surprising since the two countries have been in a tense standoff for the last twenty years over the disputed Nogorno-Karabkh region. Unlike Georgia and its separatist regions, the countries’ well-equipped armies are literally facing each other from dugouts and there is no third party peacekeeper presence serving as a tripwire. Ukraine and Russia meanwhile hold the 18th and 21st positions, with 62% and 59% of their populations ready to fight, respectively. This makes sense given both countries’ histories of invasion, from the Mongols, to the Nazis and their satellite armies, to the current crisis, which is more of a civil war than an outright invasion.
Chart 1 presents country statistics and their rankings based on willingness to fight for one’s country. As you can see, with the exception of Finland, most of the “warriors” are not the most affluent countries. However, when combined they make up one third of the world’s population. Countries at the bottom of the list are the richest, and most of them have NATO-standard militaries at their disposal (some nuclear capable). Unlike, the warriors, their citizens do not seem to be very eager to fight for their homelands. Perhaps they do not feel the need to.
Chart 1. “Warriors and Cowards”
Of course this single question was not intended to measure patriotism among the surveyed countries. Nevertheless, looking on the bottom of this chart, I feel that the Latin proverb Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war) best suits the “coward” countries since most of them seem to be adequately prepared for a possible war compared to those who top the “warrior” country list (though motivated mentally, the opposite is true). Geographically speaking these countries also have less or no territorial or ideological disputes with their neighbors compared to the most of “warrior” countries.
Notes:
A total of 64,002 persons were interviewed globally. The margin of error for the survey is between 2.14 and 4.45 +3-5% at 95% confidence level. GORBI has run the End of Year Survey since 1992 and was in charge of the data collection for the 2014 survey.
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