What Motivates Slovenian ‘Peacekeepers’?

Abstract

This article is based on the results of longitudinal research on the motivations and expectations of members of the Slovenian Armed Forces participating in peace operations from 2003 to 2009. The analysis is based on three main approaches. The first is to distinguish between two groups of soldiers: those deployed to missions abroad on a voluntary basis, and those deployed to missions by order. The second approach is to distinguish between those deployed for the first time, and those who have already participated in peace support operations (PSOs) before. The third approach aims at distinguishing between three types of soldiers’ motivation for PSOs according to Battistelli's typology. The importance of the different groups of motivation would to a certain degree also vary depending on the national culture, organizational culture and the individual soldier, as well as the time at which the survey was conducted: prior to deployment, during deployment or after returning home.