Monitoring the consequences of Poland's participation in the international intervention in Afganistan

The aim of our project is to reveal the shortcomings of information to the public from the media regarding the social impact of Polish intervention in Afghanistan. To this end, we will monitor media reports on the activities of the authorities and the army of Poland - possibly in cooperation with them, discuss changes in their activities, where such deficits will be disclosed. We assume that, like in other countries participating in the intervention (Germany, United Kingdom), together with the intensification of the fighting and an increase in the presence of Polish intervention in Afghanistan will become a much more controversial issue for the public in Poland than ever before.

As part of the monitoring we want to determine whether (and if so, how) the intervention in Afghanistan affects the mood of society (for example, how are changing the general threat perceptions, the level of intolerance and feelings of uncertainty, attitudes to Islam and the Arab world. We monitor the political climate (whether and how the intervention becomes the object of political divisions) and what role these changes play in government agencies (Defense, Foreign Affairs, the president, prime minister) and the media. We are interested, whether - for example - a larger number of casualties among the Polish soldiers leads to a reduction of interest in the fate of civilians (Afghans) in the media, whether bigger media interest in the conflict increases the number of  stereotyping reports on Afghanistan.

One important element of monitoring is to determine (through in-depth interviews) consequences for casualties and their families and the quality of care for soldiers (injured and healthy) delivered by state agencies after the return of the soldiers from Afghanistan.

This way we intend - in a neutral way - to stimulate a debate about the effects of intervention.

The main target of the project is the media, which we try to incline to provide continuous information on the major trends in politics regarding intervention. Following the example of U.S. non-governmental organizations we also want to monitor the balance of the victims. We DO NOT intend to analyze the strategies, tactics, military and combat operations, because we have no competence in this field. We do not intend to establish, whether the intervention is militarily successful, but what consequences it has for Poland.

Therefore, monitoring will include three levels:
1. Political: one of our colleagues is monitoring the strategy changes of the Polish authorities (including changes in the number of troops and changes in the law) based on changes in legislation, the speeches of politicians and public debates.

2. Media: In this framework we follow the changes in the attitudes of leading media and public opinion to the intervention based on the method of analysis of media content and a professional nationwide public opinion surveys (included in the project budget.) Media monitoring will be carried out by colleagues of FEPS, based on questionnaires developed by

media experts from the University of Wroclaw and the Warsaw School of Social Psychology, who are cooperating with the FEPS.

3. Social: here on an ongoing basis we monitor the number of casualties (military and civilian - where activities with the participation of Poles causes such victims) based on Polish and foreign public sources (press releases, statements of politicians, think tanks and the reports of the parliamentary report. This information will be kept on the Foundation's website as a constantly updated interactive graph. On the basis of media reports, official data, MON, and contacts with the families of returning soldiers and victims will determine how changes in attitude of the authorities to medical and psychological treatment of victims (the issue of PTSD, the recognition of some of the symptoms for caused by the war).

Twice a year, the Foundation will present conclusions and possible recommendations during a press conference in Warsaw on the basis of the results of monitoring. Monitoring of the victims will be kept up to date on the website of the Foundation. As victims we do not only understand persons killed in action, but also injured or requiring specialized assistance after returning home (like PTSD). Project participants may also at irregular intervals publish summary reports of its monitoring on the Foundation's website. After the completion of the project a volume about the impact of Poland’s intervention will be published.
The project is funded by the Stefan Batory Foundation, Warsaw in the framework of "Democracy in Action."

For more data see: http://www.feps.pl/pl/afganistan

See also our presentation from the press conference on 25.01.2011.

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Prezentacja