Multivariate Statistics of Security Perceptions in Europe

Abstract

A range of methods were applied to evaluate and understand security perceptions across five European countries. Eight dimensions of the security per- ception were assessed, namely physical safety, territorial integrity, environmental and ecological security, cultural identity, social stability, political stability, eco- nomic prosperity, and information and cyber security. Their evaluation and prioriti- sation was performed using the Perception Security Matrix representation. Statisti- cal methods—contingency tables, functional analysis and structural equation mod- elling—were applied to explain the relationships between the dimensions and their dependencies on risk categories. Three basic principles were derived: from want related to economic and environmental conditions, from in- stability as determined by social and political issues, and from fear, meaning freedom from war, terrorism and aggressiveness, and related also to the integrity of the private sphere. These general principles manifest themselves differ- ently in different countries determined by specific political, social, cultural, and economic context.