Attitudes on Foreign and Security Policy in the Federal Republic

Judgement on questions of foreign policy and security policy. Topics:
judgement on the current economic situation as well as the change of
the situation since reunification for the part of the country in which
the respondent lives (East or West); expected economic situation for
one´s part of the country; satisfaction with democracy in the Federal
Republic; party preference (Sunday question); certainty of one´s voting
decision; most important political controversies for the voting
decision; judgement on one´s own current economic situation and change
since reunification; expected development of one´s own economic
situation; attitude to selected statements on world security,
stationing nuclear weapons, American culture influence on German
culture, armament, national consciousness and NATO (scale); sympathy
scale for the French, Persians, Turks, English, Chinese, Americans,
Israelis, Poles, Swiss, Russians and Japanese; importance of good
relations of the Federal Republic with selected European neighbors and
some non-European countries; sympathy scale for leading politicians
such as Yeltsin, Hussein, Kohl, Walesa, Major, Havel, Genscher,
Mitterand, Gorbachev and Bush; countries presenting the greatest threat
to Germany and assessment of the size of this threat; difference in
interests in foreign policy of the USA and the Federal Republic; trust
in the USA in coping with problems in world politics; attitude to
security policy, armament, NATO, jeopardy to peace, weapons purchase,
coping with conflict and soldiers as potential murderers (scale);
attitude to the Federal German Armed Forces in the current form as
mixture of persons liable for military service or as a professional
army; preferred number of soldiers in the Federal German Armed Forces;
assessment of the probability of war in Germany in the next ten years;
attitude to current defense expenditures in the Federal Republic; most
reliable partner of Germany in case of a military conflict; preference
for leadership powers or equal rights of all nations to protect world
peace; most impressive events in world politics of late; assessment of
the threat potential from immigration, military conflicts in the East,
business competition, drug trade, terrorism, third world conflicts,
spread of nuclear weapons, religious fanaticism, communism,
environmental catastrophes, armament, world economic crisis or Russian
troops in Germany; country one feels is capable of a nuclear first
strike; sympathy scale for the CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, the Greens, the
Republican and the PDS; self-classification on a left-right continuum;
attitude to questions of military policy and security policy such as
necessity of a country´s own military forces for sovereignty of the
country, including British and French nuclear weapons in disarmament,
necessity of the NATO and modern fighter planes such as ´Jaeger 90´,
non-involvement in other countries, conflict-free solution of disputes
between countries, protection of German culture from foreign influences
and justification of the war against Iraq (scale); judgement on the
care of the government for the citizens; preferred areas for reductions
in the Federal Budget; attitude to financial sacrifices by Germans to
improve living conditions in Eastern Europe; attitude to European
unification, world-wide deployment of the Federal German Armed Forces
and renunciation of claims to territory regarding Eastern European
countries; attitude to reduction in nuclear weapons; comparison of
civil rights and liberties in the Federal Republic with other
countries; stress from maneuvers and low-flying aircraft; necessity of
defense preparedness of the Federal German Armed Forces; damage to
German standing from arms exports; NATO as provider of peace; judgement
on the recognition of the independence of Croatia and Slovenia by the
Federal Government; election participation as citizen duty;
inevitability of wars; citizen orientation of the politicians; most
important future tasks of NATO; NATO relationship with the former East
Bloc; general sense of security; comprehensibility of the world;
postmaterialism (Inglehart index); dogmatism and rigidity (scale) by
means of pairs of terms; attitude to reduction of military disarmament
and current withdrawal of American troops from the Federal Republic;
judgement on the troop strength of the Federal German Armed Forces
after the planned troop reduction; expected increase in security in the
world; attitude to military aid for other countries; judgement on
American influence on the Federal Republic; judgement on the ability of
German foreign policy to achieve; attitude to deployment of NATO
outside of the NATO area; attitude to a strong Federal German Armed
Forces without specific military danger from outside; perceived
personal influence on foreign and defense policy; personal readiness
for risk; attitude to intervention by Germany in affairs of world
politics; war as necessary means to protect national interests;
superiority of German culture; involving American defense in Europe;
self-assessment of interest in defense and foreign policy; frequency of
obtaining news on television as well as in the daily newspaper;
preferred daily newspaper; national, local or international main focus
of interests in the news; communication partner with questions of
foreign and defense policy; frequency of conversations about these
topics; evaluation of selected international organizations such as UN,
WEU, NATO, EC, CSCE; knowledge about stationing medium-range nuclear
missiles in Germany, against which was protested ten years earlier;
behavior at the polls in the last Federal Parliament election;
respondent or member of household with longer stay abroad. The
following question was also posed to men: military service and length
of personal military service. The following was presented to the
respondent as form to be filled out: issue ability of the parties and
issue relevance in questions of East-West balance, European
unification, questions of defense policy, territory demands regarding
Eastern European countries and regarding the possibilities for
foreigners to move to Germany. In the 2nd or 3rd wave the following
additional questions were posed: attitude to selected statements on
expansion of the EC as threat to German culture and on permission by
the UN to bomb Serbian positions; sympathy scale for leading
politicians such as Kinkel, Clinton and Ghali; attitude to military
attacks on Iraq due to the disregard for the UN resolution; attitude to
conducting a referendum on further European unification, to violent
actions against foreigners and to militarily enforcing flight
prohibition over Bosnia and Herzegovina; most important future tasks of
the Federal German Armed Forces (scale); probability of future events
such as: more effective role of the UN in solution of international
problems, concentration of the USA on domestic problems under the
Clinton government (scale); attitude to selected statements such as
media as megaphone of the government in questions of world politics, a
common European military force, deployment of troops in Somalia,
distribution of aid and use of force by the UN in former Yugoslavia;
assessment of the credibility of media in questions of world politics;
attitude to termination of the war in former Yugoslavia by use of
military of the UN, to continuation of European unification only with
concurrent introduction of laws on democratic participation and
control; attitude to making easier or restricting possibilities for
foreigners to move to Germany; most important areas in which Germany
should take more responsibility (scale); security feeling regarding of
the current situation in world politics; judgement on the European
domestic market; attitude to withdrawal of American forces from the
FRG; attitude to the costs of European agricultural policy, to further
stationing of UN troops in Somalia to restore civil order, to the loss
of prestige by Germany from violence against foreigners and to the
ability of the UN to function only under leadership of the USA;
attitude to further development of the EC regarding introduction of a
common European citizenship, foreign policy, defense policy, central
bank, immigration policy, currency and personal recommendation on the
most urgent further development; attitude to neglect of Europe by the
USA, to economic success of the FRG from membership in the EC, to
minimizing immigration through increased foreign aid; attitude to media
reporting that places its main focus on conflicts; feeling of shame to
be a German due to violence against foreigners; mistrust of other
countries regarding Germany since reunification; impossibility of
solving big problems of this world; attitude to Germany in the Security
Council; democratic decisions in the EC; Germany as paymaster of the
EC; importance of stationing German troops in Somalia. Demography: sex;
year of birth; religious denomination; religiousness; ties to church;
school training; employment; occupational position; employment in the
civil service; marital status; membership in a club, citizen
initiative, party or professional organization; party inclination;
party identification; length of party inclination; head of household;
school education, employment and occupational position of head of
household; employment of head of household in the civil service; union
membership of a member of household; status as ethnic German from
Eastern Europe, status as emigrant from East Germany or refugee status
and year of moving from the GDR; household income and persons involved
in household income; size of household and number of children in
household. Interviewer rating: interest of respondent in survey topic;
willingness of respondent to cooperate. Also encoded was: date of
interview; start of interview; number of contact attempts; state;
administrative district; city size; interview end.