Public opinion

The Comprehensive State protection that began in 2018 is one of the most important priority steps towards strengthening and shaping Latvia's self-defence capabilities. It is the concept of protection that includes the involvement of the whole society, so the viability of comprehensive national protection depends primarily on the public's willingness to defend its country. In 2019, the Security and Strategic Research Centre of the Latvian National Defence Academy conducted a study on the will of the Latvian public to defend the country and what aspects of state-society relations affect it in a positive and negative way, Likewise, the study sought to identify what should be done to increase the will of the society to defend the country.

The main findings of the research reveal that the Comprehensive State protection affects a vast spectrum of state-society relations that influences the public's willingness to defend its country. Consequently, the implementation of this system should raise issues beyond the limits of military solutions: political trust, inter-ethnic cohesion, a system of values for society and others. For the Comprehensive State protection system framework, both military and civilian aspects are equally important and their integrated use is warranted. Therefore, the extension of the concept of “the will to defend the country” with a non-military dimension shows a higher readiness for Latvian society to defend the country than previously considered.