Extremism in the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to statistically evaluate the level of knowledge of extremism and the personal inclination toward it among professional soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic. While establishing recommendations for its elimination, the authors examined individual factors that affect manifestations of extremism. These recommendations allow us to focus on the education and education of professional soldiers of the armed forces in order to prevent radicalization of their attitudes. The aim of the research was to determine, on the basis of a questionnaire, the group of professional soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic with the greatest intolerant beliefs in relation to minorities in society and the group with the lowest awareness of extremism. The subject of the research was the professional soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic and their knowledge of extremism and intolerant beliefs towards minorities in society. Based on the analysis conducted on a representative sample of professional soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, at the end of the article, the authors identify four groups of these soldiers with the highest potential extremist behaviour. These are groups created from views based on rank, education, age, and type of civil service.