Study title

Finnish Opinions on Security Policy and National Defence 2014

Dataset ID Number

FSD2977

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2977

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Advisory Board for Defence Information (ABDI)

Abstract

The annual survey charted Finnish public opinion on foreign policy, defence policy, security, military alliances, military service, and international armed conflicts at the time of the survey.

Opinions were charted on the success of foreign policy in the previous few years, funds allocated to the Defence Forces, whether Finland should resort to armed defence in case of any sort of attack, and how the global security situation would develop in the next five years. The respondents' readiness to participate in defending Finland in case of attack were queried. Views were probed on the current, conscription-based defence system and whether women should also participate in conscription. The respondents were asked whether Finland should form military alliances and whether Finland should apply for NATO membership. Concern caused by certain phenomena and issues was charted, such as the economic situation in Europe, global warming, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, international terrorism, cybercrime, situation in Ukraine, and religious extremist groups.

Some questions pertained to issues affecting the safety and security of Finland. These included, among others, EU membership, potential NATO membership, Finland's participation in the EU defence and Finland's participation in international crisis management. Satisfaction with defence policy in the previous few years was investigated. Views were charted on Finnish military cooperation in the EU, with NATO and with other Nordic countries.

Opinions were probed on the possibility of a military threat against Finland in the following 10 years as well as Finland's chances to defend itself against an enemy in conventional warfare. 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 were studied on Finland's preparedness for the prevention of various security threats, such as armed threat, infectious diseases and epidemics, environmental hazards, political pressure from other states, economic crisis, terrorism, and attacks against information systems and networks. Finally, the respondents were asked how well the EU and Finland had acted in the Ukraine crisis, and how Russia's actions affected/would affect Finland's security.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, age, economic activity and occupational status, marital status, occupation of the household head, household composition, ages of children living at home, gross annual income of the household, newspaper reading habits, level of education, consumer durables in the household, type of accommodation, number of inhabitants in the municipality of residence, Internet use, and political party choice in the previous parliamentary elections.

Keywords

European integration; armed forces; conflict; conflict resolution; conscription; defence; defence and state security policy; foreign policy; foreign relations; international alliances; international conflict resolution; military expenditure; military operations; national security; 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

2014

Collection Dates

2014-09-26 – 2014-10-12

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 94 municipalities, 58 of which were urban 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: Finnish.

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

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 2014 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-08-22). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2977

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 (2014). Helsinki: Maanpuolustustiedotuksen suunnittelukunta MTS. Tiedotteita ja katsauksia joulukuu 2014; 1/2014. Saatavissa: http://www.defmin.fi/files/2973/MTS_Raportti_suomeksi_nettiversio.pdf [viitattu 30.1.2015]

Related Publications

Suomalaisten mielipiteitä ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikasta, maanpuolustuksesta ja turvallisuudesta (2014). Helsinki: Maanpuolustustiedotuksen suunnittelukunta MTS. Tiedotteita ja katsauksia: Joulukuu 2014; 1/2014. http://www.defmin.fi/files/2973/MTS_Raportti_suomeksi_nettiversio.pdf [viitattu 2.2.2015].

Finns' Opinions on Foreign and Security Policy, Defence and Security Issues 2014 (2014) [online]. Helsinki: Advisory Board of Defence Information, ABDI. http://www.defmin.fi/files/2972/MTS_Raportti_in_english_nettiin.pdf [cited 2 Feb. 2015].

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

Weckman, Albert (2019). Det finländska Natostödet 2013 - 2014, fluktuationer i ljuset av Ukrainakrisen. Pro gradu-avhandling. Statsvetenskap, Åbo Akademi.

Vartiainen, Mikko (2021) Maanpuolustustahtoisuuden yhteys turvallisuuden ja turvattomuuden tunteisiin maanpuolustustiedotuksen suunnittelukunnan mielipidekyselyissä. Johtamisen ja sotilaspedagogiikan laitos. Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu.

Weckman, Albert (2023) Public opinion and NATO: How different security environments influence the support for NATO in Finland. Nordic Review of International Studies 1, 4-24.