Democracy and Military Force

Military Review, Nov-Dec, 2003 by Peter J. Schifferle

Philip P. Everts, Palgrave, NY, 2002, 256 pages, $68.00.

Peoples of democracies, regardless of cost, will inevitably support wars of survival. Whether the democracy will support a sustained war is another issue. Philip P. Everts, Director of the Institute for International Studies at Leiden University, the Netherlands, provides evidence from European and American public opinion surveys to prove that populations are fickle when casualties are suffered in operations perceived to be either useless or impotent. Everts argues that in wars of survival or in conflicts where success appears evident, people will support government actions.

For Everts, an issue greater than casualty sensitivity is whether modem nation-states, in particular European allies, will sustain any war, regardless of the price or the reason. Using the phrase "the problematique of identity," Everts reasons that the outcome is yet in doubt; populations that have abandoned war as a civilized solution to any problem, regardless of its severity, might not support future wars.

Evert's observations serve a cautionary note for military officers, politicians, and citizens. We are not sure how the global war on terrorism will end, but it is in the realm of possibility that the United States might lose the necessary popular support it needs to win.

Peter J. Schifferle, Ph.D.

Lansing, Kansas