Dominika Hajdu for Euronews on the importance of critical thinking for building a resilient society

The decision of Slovakia's defence minister, Jaroslav Naď, to sell the country's MIG-29 fleet to Ukraine divided the nation and incited a new wave of disinformation. The head of GLOBSEC's Centre for Democracy and Resilience, Dominika Hajdu, explained for Euronews why Slovaks are so susceptible to false narratives.

Slovakia is the country with higher degree of pro-Russian attitudes in Central European region with a third of its population seeing Russia as a strategic partner despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation play a crucial role in this.

Why are Slovaks so prone to believe in false narratives? Dominika Hajdu sees education as one of the main reasons. The coverage of the 20th century, critical thinking and media literacy is at a very poor level in education which “makes people more vulnerable to disinformation and conspiracy theories”.

Read the full article here.

And if you want to learn more about the public opinion of Central European populations on key security issues, go through the latest GLOBSEC Trends report.