3 Items

military enlistment ceremony

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Brooks Hubbard

Journal Article - International Studies Quarterly

Why They Fight: How Perceived Motivations for Military Service Shape Support for the Use of Force

What shapes public support for military missions? Existing scholarship points to, on the one hand, individuals' affiliations and predispositions (such as political partisanship and gender), and, on the other hand, factors that shape a rational cost–benefit analysis (notably, mission objectives, the prospects for victory, and the magnitude and distribution of costs). The authors argue that public opinion is also shaped by beliefs about why soldiers voluntarily enlist. This article has implications for debates on the determinants of public support for military missions and the relationship between military service and citizenship in democracies.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark A. Milley

DoD/Army Sgt. 1st Class Chuck Burden

Journal Article - Perspectives on Politics

No Right to Be Wrong: What Americans Think about Civil-Military Relations

An influential model of democratic civil-military relations insists that civilian politicians and officials, accountable to the public, have "the right to be wrong" about the use of force: they, not senior military officers, decide when force will be used and set military strategy. While polls have routinely asked about Americans' trust in the military, they have rarely probed deeply into Americans' views of civil-military relations.