Talk Elections

Year-end 2014 poll in 65 countries:


http://www.wingia.com/en/services/end_of_year_survey_2014/regional_country_results/8/46/

I compiled a summary:

"If there were a war that involved [your country], would you be willing to fight for your country?"

(ranked by net balance)

94-05 Fiji [+89]
94-06 Morocco [+88]
85-01 Azerbaijan [+84]
89-07 Pakistan [+82]
89-09 Vietnam [+80]
84-08 Papua New Guinea [+76]
86-12 Bangladesh [+74]
72-13 Thailand [+59]
76-18 Georgia [+58]
75-17 India [+58]
76-20 Afghanistan [+56]
69-13 Kazakhstan [+56]
74-20 Finland [+54]
70-17 Indonesia [+53]
66-13 Israel [+53]
73-21 Turkey [+52]
72-23 Armenia [+49]
71-23 China [+48]
63-18 Malaysia [+45]
70-26 Philippines [+44]
69-27 Kenya [+42]
55-15 Sweden [+40]
59-20 Russia [+39]
62-24 Ukraine [+38]
66-30 Lebanon [+36]
58-24 Kosovo [+34]
64-32 Panama [+32]
61-32 Peru [+29]
56-27 Palestinian Territories [+29]
54-27 Greece [+27]
61-36 Colombia [+25]
54-35 Ecuador [+19]
55-39 Bosnia & Herzegovina [+16]
56-41 Mexico [+15]
41-27 Latvia [+14]
47-34 Poland [+13]
44-31 USA [+13]
46-36 Serbia [+10]
50-46 Nigeria [+4]
48-44 Brazil [+4]

43-43 Argentina [+/-0]
37-37 Denmark [+/-0]

38-40 Ireland [-2]
38-41 Romania [-3]
39-47 Switzerland [-8]
42-50 South Korea [-8]
38-49 Macedonia [-9]
30-43 Australia [-13]
30-45 Canada [-15]
29-44 France [-15]
28-47 Portugal [-19]
25-47 Bulgaria [-22]
27-51 UK [-24]
26-52 Iceland [-26]
21-49 Spain [-28]
10-43 Japan [-33]
23-57 Hong Kong [-34]
19-56 Belgium [-37]
23-64 Czech Republic [-41]
21-62 Austria [-41]
18-62 Germany [-44]
20-68 Italy [-48]
15-64 Netherlands [-49]

Iraq: no data
Saudi Arabia: no data

Pathetic.

EDIT: Well, maybe understandable after Iraq and Afghanistan.


In need of some Dutch courage.

Sweden higher than 'Murica?

I wouldn't, to be honest.

Sweden has a proud military tradition and they have been used to the idea of having to defend themselves being neutral under the Cold War. Look at Finland with 74-20 [+54]. Scandinavian countries are not pacifist.

Wonder what Phil thinks of Italy after those numbers. Actually I'll say for this: Germany, Italy and the Netherlands = Freedom Countries

27-51 UK [-24].

Good thing the Battle of Britain is not fought today.

EDIT: Well, maybe understandable after Iraq and Afghanistan. Homeland defence would be a different matter.

No, I wouldn't. The U.S. is pretty much 100% guaranteed to be the aggressor.

On the other hand its understandable for countries like Finland, Sweden, Poland to have a different view considering their history of being bullied by their giant neighbor to the East. (Finland not being in NATO, I think has done a lot of joint military exercises and cooperation with Sweden in the event of Russian aggression despite the USSR's embarrassment in the Winter War). It's pretty much unthinkable that Finland or Sweden would start a war of aggression, but there is unfortunately a nonzero chance they may need to fight a defensive war if Putin really goes mad.

Italy really isn't under any threat by anybody. If Italy went to war it would probably be because Berlusconi or someone like him is in power and joins a U.S. coalition in a war of aggression, like they did with Iraq. Netherlands is in even less danger of having to defend itself.

I certainly wouldn't. If the US was actually being invaded I'd probably just head to Canada.

This is a dumb question. I can't answer categorically one way or the other. It would depend on the specific conflict.

This is a dumb question, because you don't really know how you'd react when your courage is tested up until it is. I hope the answer is yes (and I would answer 'yes' to this question), but there's no real way to tell.

Nice to see Israel way ahead of Palestine, though.

Yup, junk poll. For many people, it would depend on circumstances. Nonetheless, I'm surprised to see Canada so low. Good, I guess?

Canada always had a strong anti-militarist streak in some areas and the unpopularity of Afghanistan War probably doesn't help.

I probably wouldn't enlist, but if I was drafted I don't think I'd dodge the draft. 

Here are statistics on the same subject from 1990:

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Lifestyle/Will-fight-for-country (http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Lifestyle/Will-fight-for-country)

A breakdown by gender might be interesting here.

If countries like Sweden are that high up then...
http://satwcomic.com/swedish-army (http://satwcomic.com/swedish-army)
(humon comic)

If someone invaded the USA I'd go Makhno(i.e fighting both sides and creating an anarchist society).

     Pretty much, I have no idea how I would answer this question given a binary like this. As an aside, I'm rather surprised that Switzerland is that low. It'd probably be higher if we factored out the French parts (i.e. fake Switzerland).

I wonder how many American Democrats said no...

It would depend very much on the circumstances.

If the US itself were actually threatened (i.e a Hitler-esque figure seized power in Mexico and proceeded to conduct a Blitzkrieg-style aerial assault and ground invasion)? Yes.

Run-of-the-mill neocon war of choice to protect our strategic interests/liberate the oppressed people of Absurdistan? No.

Yes, they had Scandinavian countries at the top.

1      Norway    90%    1990    
1    Sweden    90%    1990    
3    Denmark    89%    1990    
4    Finland    86%    1990

This was in the immediate post-Cold War era where war was thought of as "attack on your country" in Europe. The participation in Iraq/Afghanistan changed that. I think Denmark having the highest losses per capita in Afghanistan played a big role in our drop. In Finland and Sweden the question is likely still interpreted as defense of homeland.

"Would you defend your country if it was attacked?" would be a more interesting question.

5    United States    78%    1990    
6    Australia    75%            1990    
=7    Switzerland    74%    1990    
=7    United Kingdom 74%    1990    
9    Netherlands    69%    1990

US fifth with Vietnam almost a generation behind and long before Iraq/Afghanistan. Britain post-Falkland was also quite high. The Brits had second highest per capita loss in Afghanistan and also high per capita loss in  Iraq.

It is interesting that the Netherlands were actually in top 10 back then, and they have not had the same losses in overseas operations as Britain and Denmark.

The humiliation in Srebrenica shouldn't be that influential. Again I think that the lack of a realistic threat to the homeland is crucial, still the collapse in willingness to fight has been far larger in the Netherlands than in other similar countries.

Never ever mention Srebrenica to a Dutchman.

And it's not as if that's the only reason for Dutch national confidence to take a bit of a fall over the last 25 years.

What are you thinking of?

Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh, basically.

I would use the opportunity to push for the war between nations to become a war between classes, as happened with the Great War in Russia and Germany and Hungary.

From the comfort of your armchair, of course.

It would depend on the circumstances - not just whether the war seemed just, but also how necessary my contribution was. I'm not likely to join the military in the event of a small-scale war where only a few hundred extra soldiers are needed. In a total war scenario in which we're being invaded by an authoritarian regime where every person on the front lines is critical? Hopefully I wouldn't chicken out.

Also, I'm a young, single, relatively fit male. Surely a lot of these people answering yes are decidedly not in those categories. How many 70 year old grandmothers are really likely to 'fight' in the US's next war? It seems to be that this question is probably better sense as a proxy for how likely you are to approve of a war involving your country.

Most likely I wouldn't fight but if were facing off against the axis in the 40's I would.

The usefulness of this poll result is in seeing the number of people not aligned with either side, and correlating it to education in critical thinking.

This.