Finns´opinions on foreign and security policy, national defence and security

Abstract

The Advisory Board for Defence Information (ABDI) Set up by the Government, the Advisory Board for Defence Information (ABDI) is a perma-nent Parliamentary Committee, which administratively functions in the Ministry of Defence. In addition to parliamentary members, ABDI’s members represent various expert organisations: the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Education and Culture, Defence Command Finland, Finnish Broadcasting Company, Finnish News Agency (STT), Union of Journalists in Finland, Finnish Media Federation, National Defence University, and Tampere Peace Research Institute (TAPRI).

ABDI investigates, on an annual basis, the opinions and attitudes of Finns towards security policy and the factors influencing them and conducts at least one extensive survey that covers the entire adult population in Finland. The questions cover foreign and security policy and national defence. Some of the questions represent a continuous sequence since the 1960s. The surveys by ABDI are in the public domain and accessible to all.