Study title

Finnish Opinions on Security Policy and National Defence 2011: Autumn

Dataset ID Number

FSD2718

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2718

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Advisory Board for Defence Information (ABDI)

Abstract

This annual survey charted Finnish public opinion on foreign policy, defence policy, security, military alliances, military service, military reforms and Finland's military presence in Afghanistan.

Opinions were charted on the success of defence and state security policy during the previous few years, funds allocated to the Defence Forces and whether Finland should resort to armed defense in case of any sort of attack. Respondents were asked how the global security situation would develop in the next five years, whether Finland should form military alliances and whether Finland should apply for NATO membership. Views were probed on the current, conscription-based defence system.

Regarding Finland's military presence in Afghanistan, the respondents were asked whether Finland should cease military operations in Afghanistan in 2012, by the end of 2014, or continue operations for the time being. Further questions covered whether Finland should continue civilian crisis management and development cooperation in Afghanistan.

Some questions pertained to issues affecting the safety and security of Finland. These included EU membership, potential NATO membership and Finland's participation in the EU defence. The respondents were asked to evaluate how much impact factors such as modern weapon systems, maintaining good relations to neighbouring countries and the amount of funding have on credible defence.

Views on military reforms were studied by asking how the reforms should be carried out in terms of conscription, peace-keeping forces and the size of the reserve. Reasons for either closing down or preserving garrisons and detachements were charted as well as the military activities for which the funding should be cut if necessary. Concern caused by certain phenomena and issues such as economic situation in Europe, international crime, income inequality and nuclear weapons was charted.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, age, occupational status and economic activity, marital status, occupation of the household head, household composition, age of children living at home, education, gross annual income of the household, newspaper reading and television viewing habits, type of accommodation, ownership of car, home, holiday home and consumer durables, Internet use, and political party choice if parliamentary elections were held at that time.

Keywords

European Union; armed forces; conflict resolution; conscription; defence; defence and state security policy; foreign policy; future; integration; international alliances; international conflict resolution; national security; peace-keeping forces; public expenditure

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Conflict, security and peace (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Political behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Finnish Opinions on Security Policy and National Defence

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Taloustutkimus

Time Period Covered

2011

Collection Dates

2011-11-21 – 2011-12-11

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 15-79 living in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Quota

Quota sampling based on age, gender, province and municipality type distributions. For this study, interviews were conducted in 89 municipalities, 46 of which were urban and 43 rural municipalities.

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: English and Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Number of Cases and Variables

161 variables and 965 cases.

Data Version

2.0

Weighting

The data contain a weight variable (paino), matching the sample to the distributions of the 15 - 79 year-old population (in thousands).

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Advisory Board for Defence Information (ABDI): Finnish Opinions on Security Policy and National Defence 2011: Autumn [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-08-21). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2718

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Suomalaisten mielipiteitä ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikasta, maanpuolustuksesta ja turvallisuudesta (2012). Helsinki: Maanpuolustustiedotuksen suunnittelukunta MTS. Tiedotteita ja katsauksia helmikuu 2012; 1/2012.

Related Publications

Suomalaisten mielipiteitä ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikasta, maanpuolustuksesta ja turvallisuudesta (2012). Helsinki: Maanpuolustustiedotuksen suunnittelukunta MTS. Tiedotteita ja katsauksia helmikuu 2012; 1/2012

Finns' Opinions on Foreign and Security Policy, Defence and Security Issues (2012) [online]. Helsinki: Advisory Board of Defence Information, ABDI. http://www.defmin.fi/files/2025/Report_in_english_january_2012.pdf [cited 7 Feb. 2014].

Finns' Opinions on Foreign and Security Policy, Defence and Security Issues - Graphs (2012) [online]. Helsinki: Advisory Board of Defence Information, ABDI. http://www.defmin.fi/files/2024/MTS_report_january_2012_pictures_in_english.pdf [cited 7 Feb. 2014].

Gustafsberg, Harri & Nyman, Markku (2018). Yksilöresilienssi ja yhteiskunnan turvallisuus. Tampere: Mentoritiimi.