Stajališta hrvatske javnosti i časnika oružanih snaga Republike Hrvatske spram pristupanja Republike Hrvatske NATO-u
Attitudes of the Croatian Public and Officers of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia on the Accession of the Republic of Croatia to NATO

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents and analyses the comparative results of a questionnaire on attitudes of the Croatian public (N=3,420) and officers of the Croatian Armed Forces (N=596) with regard to the accession to NATO of the Republic of Croatia, conducted in 2008. Accession to NATO was identified as the most favourable foreign political option for national security by a relative majority of the citizens (37%) and by more than three quarters of the officers (76.1%). Support for joining NATO in a hypothetical referendum would be given by almost twice as many citizens (42.9%) in relation to the number of those opposing it (23.1%), and almost four fifths of the officers (78.3%) would vote for accession. Public expectations about the possible consequences of the country’s accession 389 to NATO are mostly favourable with regard to the majority of the military security, political and economic consequences. An exception is the expected increased exposure of the country to terrorist attacks (shared by the officers) and possible limitation of the political autonomy of the state. Mostly negative consequences are also expected by the public at the local social and environmental levels. The estimates of the officers are more positive in relation to the majority of the expected military security, political and economic consequences, while, unlike the public, they do not expect any negative consequences on the social and environmental levels. On the whole, the results indicate a relative conformity between the public’s orientation and the orientation of the officers, although the officers more prominently support the accession to NATO.

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