Military Combat and Attitudes toward the Use of Force

• In Event: Public Support for War, Peace, Violence, and Compromise

Abstract

While previous research has asked how military service affects the willingness of an individual to support the use of force, there has been little work that differentiates military experience according to type. In particular, the factor most directly relevant to an understanding of the implications of military force---service in combat---has received scant attention within the existing literature. We use new survey data on the political attitudes of American veterans and civilians, which allows us to distinguish between various different service experiences among veterans, to examine opinions about the use of force. We compare those with combat experience to civilians as well as veterans whose service did not involve military conflict. We then propose a theoretical framework that links acquired identity from service and combat to political views. We further test this thesis on questions about civil-military relations. Our findings provide important implications for the ways in which direct exposure to armed violence can affect an individual's thoughts about the role of the military and of military force in the life of the nation.

Authors

• Tyson Chatagnier, University of Houston

• Jonathan D. Klingler, University of Mississippi