Slovak Gen Z Reluctant to Fight for the State but Willing to Defend Their Home

Young Slovaks belonging to Generation Z — those born roughly between the late 1990s and early 2010s — show a notable distinction in their attitudes toward military service and national defense: they are largely unwilling to fight on behalf of the state as an institution, but express a genuine willingness to defend their homes and communities if threatened. Growing up during a period marked by multiple crises and with war visible on their screens — most recently Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which borders Slovakia — this generation has developed a complex and conditional relationship with the concept of national defense. Unlike previous generations shaped by compulsory military service, which Slovakia abolished in 2006, Gen Z has no direct personal experience with the armed forces. Their sense of loyalty and duty appears tied more to personal and local ties than to abstract national or state identity. The distinction matters politically and institutionally at a time when European governments, including Slovakia's, are debating how to strengthen defense capacity and whether to reintroduce any form of mandatory military training amid heightened security concerns on the continent.