Opinion poll: Slavic peoples share similar traditions, values, mentality
Slavic peoples are united by similar traditions, values, and mentality – as noted by Irina Lashuk, the Head of the Department of Economic Sociology and Psychology of Entrepreneurship, the Centre for Social and Humanitarian Studies at the Belarusian State Economic University, when commenting on the sociological poll results, BelTA reports
The Belarusian research toolkit is based on a wide range of foreign policy issues, taking into account the consistent deepening of the republic’s integration into the post-Soviet space, Greater Eurasia and the European Union. In general, the topic of international relations finds a wide response among citizens and arouses interest among 81 percent of them. According to those questioned, in addition to Belarus' main strategic allies, Russia and China, co-operation with Serbia is among the top foreign policy priorities.
Based on the respondents’ comments, the cultural factors uniting various Slavic countries, including Serbia, are among the main ones, and they cover the kinship of traditions, languages, and mentality. Belarusians attribute diligence, thrift, politeness, kindness and benevolence, mutual assistance, hospitality, openness, and peacefulness to the common distinguishing features of our peoples.
"From the point of view of ordinary people, we are more united by the culture. The respondents admit the similarity of mentality, traditions, and languages," Ms. Lashuk noted.
"Belarusians are very actively interested in the international agenda today," the expert added. “More than 80 percent of them are interested in the country's international agenda, and this indicates a high level of public engagement. It is clear that Russia and China are Belarus’ major strategic partners, but there is an interest in Slavic countries – primarily, Serbia – as well. That's why we initiated this study."
The development of relations with friendly states requires constant consideration of public opinion and requests. One of the ways is to conduct a cross country opinion poll: two sociological centres simultaneously organise a representative survey in their respective countries using a similar methodology and pre-agreed tools (questionnaire).
In December 2024, a cross country opinion survey was conducted by Belarus and Serbia. In Serbia, the opinion poll was organised by the Institute for International Politics and Economics with the involvement of House of Win, an independent research centre specialising in sociological and marketing research. The sociological research was conducted via telephone interviews (covering 1,590 respondents). In Belarus, the survey was conducted via door-to-door interviews (covering 1,500 respondents) by the Centre for Social and Humanitarian Research of the Belarusian State Economic University (BSEU), which has extensive experience in conducting such international surveys as part of the study of socio-economic relations. The main goal was to identify the peculiarities of mutual perception of Belarusians and Serbs, to determine the most promising areas of co-operation and development of friendly relations between the two countries. Taking into account the coincidence of the time of the sociological research with the election campaign in Belarus, a separate block of questions in the Belarusian part of the study concerned citizens’ assessment of the socio-political situation and citizens’ electoral priorities.