ROMANIAN`S SECURITY: EXPLAINING YOUNG CITIZENS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY

Abstract: In the last decades the issue of national security has become more transparent and a subject of interest for the common citizen. Much scholarly attention is paid to how people perceive national security and issues related to it. However, we know very little about what young citizens, members of generation Z, believe about this aspect. This paper addresses this gap in the literature and analyzes how young citizens perceive subjects related to national security. It uses Romania as a single-case study and semi-structured interviews conducted in January 2021-March 2021 with young citizens coming from different socio-demographic profiles, to explain the variation in how they understand national security. The paper seeks to test the explanatory power of several variables such as knowledge about contemporary events, media exposure and threat assessment. The paper also controls for several socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, education and medium of residence. The findings indicate that citizens’ perceptions are influenced by a combination of general attitudes towards the political system and society, the education factor and specific attitudes about potential threats.Keywords: Generation Z; security perception, Romania, national security.