Original scientific paper
Participation of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia in International Military Missions – Attitudes of the Croatian Public and Officers of the Croatian Armed Forces
Dario MATIKA
; Institute for Research and Development of Defence Systems of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia, Zagreb
Abstract
The paper presents and analyses the comparative results of a
questionnaire on attitudes of the Croatian public and officers
regarding the participation of the Armed Forces of the Republic
of Croatia in international military missions in 2008. The results
show that participation of the Croatian Armed Forces in
international military missions is supported by the relative
majority of citizens when the missions concerned are within the
institutional framework of the UN and NATO, while such support
would not be given to participation in allied coalition operations
that are not UN or NATO based. Participation of Croatian Armed
Forces in international missions under the command of the UN
or/and NATO is supported by a great number of officers, and
similarly to public attitude, almost two thirds of the officers would
not approve participation in allied coalition operations that are
not UN and/or NATO based. With regard to the type of missions
and tasks of the Croatian Armed Forces in an international
context, the public offers considerable support for taking part in
non-combat humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, while it
is divided on the issue of participating in peace enforcement
operations. A high level of support for participating in
humanitarian operations is also expressed by the officers while,
similarly to the public, attitudes are divided with regard to the
issue of peace enforcement operations. So far, participation of
the Croatian Armed Forces in international missions is considered
to have been successful by over fifty percent of the citizens, and
more than three quarters of the officers. On the whole, the results of the research indicate a relatively high level of agreement in
attitudes of the Croatian public and officers regarding
participation of the Croatian Armed Forces in international
military missions.
Keywords
Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia; international military missions; the public; Croatian Armed Forces officers
Hrčak ID:
38949
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2009.
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