By Katarína Klingová
A new report by Slovak think tank GLOBSEC captures the complexity of Central European perceptions of geopolitics, EU and NATO membership, as well as the end of Communist regimes by looking at different age groups.
Generation Trends also highlights the tendency to believe in conspiracies. “The data from our public opinion polls clearly show that belief in various conspiracies is a phenomenon alluring all age groups. Thus, threats and the impact of disinformation must be communicated both to the young as well older generations,” says Katarína Klingová, a Senior Research Fellow at GLOBSEC.
The generational focus of this report allows for more in-depth analysis, revealing specific trends and tendencies within individual states, as well as across the region. Some of the findings are pertinent and surprising. While young people are more likely to place their country within the West the situation is completely reversed in Poland. Just over 50% of respondents aged 65 years and over indicated that their country should be part of the West, compared to only 27% of 18 to 24-year olds.
Another striking finding is that Slovakia’s older generations tend to position their country more towards the East compared to similar age groups in other Central European countries. A pro-Eastern orientation is also apparent in their evaluation of the collapse of Communist regimes and the changes that subsequently followed. Only 52% of respondents aged 65+ years evaluated the end of Communist rule positively compared with Hungary (63%), Poland (73%) and the Czech Republic (75%).
Generation Trends also reveals that there may be a link between the tendency to believe disinformation and negative perceptions of the European Union. The Czech Republic is a case in point, where a significant number of 35 to 54-year olds subscribe to the belief that global affairs are shaped by secret societies determined to establish a totalitarian world order. This is the same age group that is also most likely to vote to leave the EU in the event of a referendum. While this connection needs to be investigated further, it nevertheless suggests that information campaigns targeted at vulnerable groups might prove useful in the fight against disinformation.
Conversely, almost one-third of Hungarians and Slovaks aged between 18 and 24 years do not know whether to agree or disagree with several conspiracy statements, including that Jews secretly control governments or al-Qaida was not behind the 9/11 terror attacks. This is completely different to the Czech Republic, which has the least conspiracy-prone youth in Central Europe. For this reason, Generation Trends suggests looking deeper into the region’s education systems to determine the extent to which they influence conspiratorial thinking.
Generation Trends also highlights a Central Europe seemingly at odds over the usefulness of NATO. Only 26% of Slovak residents aged 65+ years view membership positively, compared with 81% of Czechs aged between 18 and 24 years.
Read the full report here.
