Paying the Human Costs of War: American Public Opinion and Casualties in Military Conflicts by Christopher Gelpi et al.

Abstract

The book Paying the Human Costs of War by Christopher Gelpi, Peter D. Feaver, and Jason Reifler challenges existing scholarly models on American public opinion regarding military conflicts, particularly the notion that the public is 'casualty phobic.' The authors argue that public support for war is primarily shaped by two key attitudes: 'expectations of success' in an ongoing conflict and a 'belief in the rightness of war.' They contend that these factors, rather than mere casualty numbers, determine the public's tolerance for military missions. Through a detailed reexamination of survey data from conflicts such as Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia, and Kosovo, they demonstrate that the relationship between casualties and war support is more complex. The study also incorporates individual-level survey data to explore public opinion on hypothetical military interventions, suggesting that the public exhibits higher casualty tolerance for missions framed as both security-oriented and humanitarian, particularly those with clear defensive objectives.

(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)