http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee 242 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 8 / 2016 such as patriotism and national identity etc. In this vein, Quero34 refers to a national awareness of defence and the recognition of the real importance of defence and its relative value along the scale of values in society, which leads to society recognising it as a real part of a nation. From this standpoint, Calduch35 reformulates the definition of culture by stating that this is made up of “the different spiritual, historical and ma-terial elements that configure awareness or collective identity”. Culture and awareness are thus confused. Authors such as López Mora36 or Marsal37 relate the culture of de-fence with the commitment or sacrifice that contemporary societies and their citizens demonstrate for national defence. Some even go as far as to call for this culture to form part of “popular culture” sic38 and for it to find its roots in the values of society39, since, as the former states, perhaps the problem lies in the fact that “it is not clear what must be defended, that is to say, the absence of patriotism about the ideas of the homeland”. These are conflicting perspectives, since doubts as to what patriotism does or does not represent, about national awareness, popular culture and up to what point would such sacrifice be made as well as about which spiritual elements make up collective identity are inevitable and almost impossible to determine since they are a politically-, socially- and even psychologically-charged to a considerable extent. They are terms ingrained with profoundly ideological personal values and they stem from more tradi-tional notions relating to the nation and its social construct. They are matters that are difficult to dovetail within plural, open societies with multiple interests such as those of today. The idea of awareness/conscience has always been accompanied by the term defence -in its most classic definition, as will be illustrated in the following section-, which results in a more conservative perception, as a matter of morals and responsi- 34 QUERO, Felipe, Introducción a la teoría de la seguridad nacional, Spain, Ediciones Ejército, 1989, p. 73. 35 CALDUCH, op. cit., pp. 82, 87. 36 LÓPEZ MORA, Fernando, «La cultura de seguridad y defensa en el ámbito universitario» in La Cultura de seguridad y defensa. Un proyecto en marcha, Madrid, Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies, Strategy Paper 155, 2011, p. 85. 37 MARSAL, Jordi, «Cultura de defensa, transformación de las FAS y cambio social en la España democráti-ca » en LÓPEZ MORA, F. and BALLESTEROS, M.A. (eds.) Ensayos sobre la cultura de defensa y la paz en la España actual, Cordoba-Madrid, University of Cordoba-General Directorate-General of Defence Institutional Relations, 2011, p. 218. 38 LAGUNA, Francisco, «Reflexiones sobre el problema de la cultura de defensa», Spanish Institute for Stra-tegic Studies, 2014, p. 5, available online (consulted 25 January 2015): http://www.ieee.es/Galerias/fichero/docs_opinion/2014/DIEEEO132-2014_Reflexiones_CulturaDefensa_Fco. Laguna.pdf. 39 ALONSO, Miguel, «Conciencia y cultura de la defensa en España y en Europa», in LÓPEZ MORA, F. and BALLESTEROS, M.A. (eds.) Ensayos sobre la cultura de defensa y la paz en la España actual, Cordoba-Madrid, University of Cordoba-General Directorate-General of Defence Institution-al Relations, 2011.
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