Young French people are showing a “renewed patriotism”, showing themselves ready to defend their country in the event of conflict, according to a new study on young people and war, carried out in 2023 and published Friday by organizations of the Ministry of the Armed Forces .
Among the striking figures of this sociological study, the first on the subject since the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, one in two young people between 18 and 25 say they are ready to commit to France in Ukraine .
A survey carried out in the summer of 2023
The study by IRSEM (Strategic Research Institute of the Military School) and DGRIS (Directorate General of International Relations and Strategy) was carried out between June and December 2023 by Anne Muxel, research director at CNRS and deputy director of the CEVIPOF political research center.
It analyzes a series of surveys, including one conducted online by the Ipsos institute, with a sample of 2,301 people representative of French youth aged 18 to 25. This particular survey was carried out between June 16 and July 9, 2023, well before the declarations of President Emmanuel Macron on February 26 who indicated not to exclude the sending of ground troops to Ukraine. Well before, also, the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Perception of military issues
However, there are strong trends emerging in the perception of military issues by younger generations. To the question: “if the protection of France required the country to engage in the war in Ukraine, would you be ready to commit to defend your country?” », 51% of those questioned answered “yes”, including 17% “yes absolutely” and 34 “yes perhaps”. Nearly a quarter of boys (24%) answered “yes absolutely”, compared to 12% of girls.
Without mentioning a particular country, 57% of the young people questioned said they were ready to enlist under the flags “in the event of war”.
“There is a resurgence of patriotism which responds to a need for meaning, commitment, to feel useful,” the researcher explained to AFP. “The feeling that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, at the gates of the European Union, represents a tangible danger is very present.”
Nearly a third of young French people (31%) said they were in favor of deploying French troops in Ukraine (compared to 17% of those aged 50 and over).
The possibility of a nuclear conflict, raised by Russia, is widely feared (69%). The use of nuclear weapons “against a country in the event of a major conflict” even receives 49% of favorable opinions, who consider it either “acceptable in certain cases” or “completely acceptable”.
Give sense
Several surveys had already shown a positive evolution in young people's relationship with the military institution, particularly since the jihadist attacks of 2015 in France. But this study delves deeper into representations of war, the influence of video games and young people's desire to get involved.
Global warming is their primary concern, but many (77%) see it as an additional risk of war.
A large majority of respondents (62%) consider that “it would be a good thing to once again establish compulsory military service”, abolished in 1997 and partially reintroduced by several European countries such as Sweden.