Maintaining Armed Forces for the defence of one’s own territory is one of the core principles of state sovereignty. This is one of the main reasons why the member states of the EU have not advanced integration of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as far as for other policies. Another reason is the simultaneous membership of many EU member states in NATO which has guaranteed collective peace and mutual security for more than 60 years. The lack of progress on CSDP-integration is rather surprising if one takes into account public opinion on this issue in a large majority of European countries: Most of Europe’s citizens are clearly in favor of more integration and cooperation with respect to foreign and security policy. This pattern of public opinion stands in clear contrast to widespread and increasing skepticism towards the EU and its institutions. However, escalating threats for European countries and a clear deterioration of the general European security environment in recent years provide new challenges for cooperation on security and defence policy.
This paper will look at the development and explanation of attitudes towards CSDP and a joint European army in different European countries. The main goals are to identify and explain differences in public opinion by looking at relevant contextual and individual characteristics. The latter include standard sociodemographic and attitudinal variables from research on attitudes towards European integration as well as foreign and security policy postures. Contextual factors like strategic culture, defense spending, and alliance membership will be used to account for differences between countries. Analyses will be based on Eurobarometer data as well as a comparative survey on strategic cultures in Europe conducted by the Bundeswehr Center for Military History and Social Sciences.
