Motivation to serve: renewal of military conscription in Latvia 2023

• In Event: War and Changing Perceptions of Security

Abstract

War in Ukraine dramatically changed security architecture in Europe. Before then, Latvia was the only Nordic and Baltic country that did not have a military conscription service, but that did change soon after the war. On July 1, 2023 249 males age 18-27 went into 11 months long service voluntarily filling all quota that Latvian National Armed Forces offered. At that moment a comprehensive academic research was started – in the first part of it, on the same day they started the service, all 249 volunteers were surveyed and focus group interviews were conducted to find out their motivation and reasons why they decided to voluntarily start the military training and what are their attitude towards country, patriotism and civic responsibilities. The first results now are collected and analyzed and are quite surprising. The second part of research will be done on the last day of their service at the end of May 2024, comparing the results and their attitudes at the start and end of their service. The research question possessed in this research is – if satisfaction with military service can increase the level of patriotism and responsibility towards civic duties?
Question of military personnel shortage is a burning topic in almost all NATO armies. The number of soldiers that Russia is throwing into the war is frightening and must provoke a serious debate about personnel in European armies. Unfortunately, the tendency of voluntary recruitment is declining and will demand robust policy decisions in a very close future.

Short Bio

Guna Gavrilko is a PhD student at the University of Latvia and full time professional at the Latvia's Ministry of Defense. Main research areas are military personnel, conscription, military capabilities, motivation to serve and patriotism.

Author

• Guna Gavrilko, Student