“Young people and war”, sociology of a generation

2024-04-12 09:29:31
Students from the Ecole de Maistrance, of the French Navy, during the July 14 military parade, in 2023, in Paris. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP

For the first time since the start of the Ukrainian conflict, in February 2022, a sociological study, carried out on “young people and war”, must be made public on Friday April 12 at Sciences Po in Paris. A survey, carried out by youth specialist Anne Muxel, emeritus researcher at the CNRS and deputy director at the Sciences Po Political Research Center (Cevipof), which confronts the view of young people with the concrete perspectives of war.

Carried out on behalf of the Strategic Research Institute of the Military School and the General Directorate of International Relations and Strategy – two entities attached to the Ministry of the Armed Forces – this study, carried out between February and December 2023, scrutinizes all the facets of the relationship with the armies of young French people. From their representations of current and future wars to the influence of their family circle, school and video games, to questioning, in detail, their desire for commitment and resilience in the event of conflict.

In addition to her years of work on relations between young people and the armed forces, Anne Muxel draws, in her study, on a survey carried out by Ipsos, with a representative sample of 2,301 young people aged 18 to 25 years. This survey – for which she designed the questionnaire – was carried out online, between June and July 2023, more than a year after the start of the war in Ukraine, but before the failure of the counter-offensive and the prospects very pessimistic current situation.

“Disappearance of antimilitarism”

The results are no less revealing of a significant change in young people’s view of military engagement, believes Ms. Muxel. If, in recent years, there have regularly been surveys highlighting their relative good dispositions towards the armies, according to the results obtained this time, a new milestone has been reached: more than 51% of young people surveyed are now saying “loans” or “maybe ready” to commit “if the protection of France required the country to engage in the war in Ukraine”even if only 17% of them say they are certain of this choice, she explains.

This overall support for military engagement also rises to 57% when young people are asked about their willingness to join the ranks of the army. “in case of war”, without specifying the Ukrainian context. Figures that match those collected by Ipsos, during an opinion survey carried out in February 2023where those under 35 were already appearing “significantly more favorable” to the sending, by France, of troops to Ukraine, against 17% of those aged 50 and over, recalls Ms. Muxel in her survey. This set of indicators confirms a “renewed patriotism”Who “goes beyond national borders and summons a moral altruism, a reference for the repertoires of commitment of today’s young people”, she summarizes. They also corroborate, according to her, “the disappearance of the antimilitarism that previously prevailed among the younger generations” due to conscription.

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