The Europeian Broadcasting Corporation conducted a groundbreaking study of the attitudes of the Europeian public towards their military. With more responses than any other recent EBC survey at 22, this certainly was an interesting topic, and it showed in the responses. Without much further ado, here are the results.
PART ONE: IDENTITY
The first section dealt with the identity of the Europeians surveyed, rather than their attitudes.
Question 1: How satisfied are you with Europeia's current stance on military issues?
It seems that Europeians are overall very satisfied with how we currently conduct our affairs. Out of the 22 surveyed, 3 said they were either somewhat dissatisfied or dissatisfied, with none responding that they were very dissatisfied. So people by and large approve very heavily of what our Grand Admiral, Common-Sense Politics, does.Other Responses said:
Question 2: How do you identify yourself, in terms of the raider-defender scale?
Interesting here is that there's no majority. Moderate raiders compose the plurality of our population apparently, which brings approval of our military stance into context. We practice what some would term moderate raiding, and so this stance fits the mainstream. Slight point to notice, the number who would identify themselves as moderate defenders is only one less than the number who would identify fully as raiders. Also, this is polarizing, with relatively few choosing to be neutral.Other Responses said:
Question 3: Do you or have you participated in raiding/defending activities?
Other Responses said:McEntire and the EBC suck.
In the ERN...dont know what we do
This was a pretty obvious conclusion, but it is interesting to note that although we only have 5 who identify as some sort of defender, 9 respondents admit to engaging in defending activities at some point. So the lines may not be as clear-cut as previously thought. It is tough to believe that only about 10% of the Europeian population hasn't raided or defended. That number may be skewed low by the fact of who was taking this survey.
PART TWO: ATTITUDES
The second section looks at what people want for the future, and how they see us in the world.
Question 4: In basic terms, the group Europeia should align itself closest with is...
This very much speaks for itself. People realize that while we are independent and accepting of all, we lie on a specific side of the axis. Only three respondents said we should be closer to defenders than raiders, which is somewhat surprising given that 5 identified as defenders.
Question 5: In more detailed terms, Europeia's military stance should be...
For as much as Europeians argue about this, the responses were remarkably similar. People generally support what we're currently doing, although some would like to see us assert our power through whatever form it takes. People want raiding without damage, and it seems largely want some sort of defender force.Responses said:
Question 6: How close should we be to the following groups?
This is the big one. While it was a controversial question, the results were just as clear as they were interesting. There are a few conclusions we can draw from this:Other Responses said:
1. People don't like Nazis. Universally, people agree we should be actively fighting them.
2. The only categories that people think we should be allies with are Raiders and GCRs.
3. 45.5% of respondents think that we should be actively fighting those who grief other regions. This seems to be in conflict with a lot of the debates that we've had recently, and points to a somewhat silent majority on this issue especially.
4. The distribution of answers about defenders is actually relatively even, which indicates that people have disparate opinions on defending regions.
5. The amount who think we should be friendly to raiders is only 2 more than those who think we should be friendly to defenders.
This all points to some interesting possible changes in Europeian foreign policy. While the results are often what you'd expect, there are a few surprises that indicate the public at odds with the government.
Question 7: Who is our most important ally?
Responses said:
Just an interesting question to see what people would say. TNI is certainly our most high profile ally and that which springs to mind very first.
Question 8: What role does morality play in NationStates?
6 people don't care. Here are the others:
Responses said:
A fascinating set of responses. This is a legitimate ideological difference in Europeia today, and it seems like the region is split almost down the middle on it. I guess it's just one of those things that we're always going to be debating.
FINAL SUMMATION
Many detractors of Europeia say that it's not independent enough to call itself independent. These results back that up somewhat, although they don't exactly call out for anything to change. Europeians generally seem to be okay with defenders, very much fans of our currrent stance, and disdainful of griefers. While this is very much in line with the policy of the region, it may not be in line with the rhetoric. This survey speaks to a Europeia much less divided than that in the many debates we've had over this topic. We firmly believe there is a middle ground, and even if it's hard to find we are committed to it. That's Europeia for you.
