dc.description.abstract | Regional development focusing on economic, social and cultural empowerment is an important aspect in defending the country from every threat. National defense, however, is a collective obligation between the government and the whole citizen. The study is objected to analyze the influence of 1) the economic aspect represented by welfare level, capital, labor, entrepreneurship and economic institution, 2) the social aspects indicated by education, health, social capital, social institution and communal conflict, and 3) the cultural aspect reflected by separatist, fanatics, culture and prominent figure on national defense in east coast of North Sumatra by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The result shows that the three aspects consist of social, economic and cultural have significant influence on national defense in the level of significance of 99%. The study implies that in maintaining national defense, the government should have focused the development on specific economic, social and cultural aspect. The improvement of the economic structure of the people of coastal area should be delivered through proportional resources. The focus of social development is to generate non formal education such as training, workshop and life skill, and to promote health service to poor fisherman. The cultural development is to support local culture, to avoid copious fanatics and separatist by enhancing cultural institution and by revitalizing the role of public figure and intellectual. An integrated and coordinative planning between the local government and District Military Command (Kodim) is a necessity in regional development. A sustainable public campaign at every level of the government and to the people is a perquisite in building public perception of national defense. | en_US |