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Losing on the Home Front? Battlefield Casualties, Media, and Public Support for Foreign Interventions

Author

Listed:
  • Thiemo Fetzer

    (University of Warwick, University of Bonn)

  • Pedro CL Souza

    (Queen Mary University of London)

  • Oliver Vanden Eynde

    (Paris School of Economics)

  • Austin L Wright

    (Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago)

Abstract

How domestic constituents respond to signals of weakness in foreign wars remains an important question in international relations. This paper studies the impact of battlefield casualties and media coverage on public demand for war termination. To identify the effect of troop fatalities, we leverage the timing of survey collection across respondents from nine members of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Quasi-experimental evidence demonstrates that battlefield casualties increase the news coverage of Afghanistan and the public demand for withdrawal. Evidence from a survey experiment replicates the main results. To shed light on the media mechanism, we leverage a news pressure design and find that major sporting matches occurring around the time of battlefield casualties drive down subsequent coverage, and significantly weaken the effect of casualties on support for war termination. These results highlight the role that media play in shaping public support for foreign military interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Thiemo Fetzer & Pedro CL Souza & Oliver Vanden Eynde & Austin L Wright, 2024. "Losing on the Home Front? Battlefield Casualties, Media, and Public Support for Foreign Interventions," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 310, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:310
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Thiemo Fetzer & Oliver Vanden Eynde & Austin L Wright, 2024. "Team production on the battlefield: Evidence from NATO in Afghanistan," PSE Working Papers halshs-04610715, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International security; public opinion; political economy; Afghanistan; NATO;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q33 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Resource Booms (Dutch Disease)
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • N52 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • L71 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Hydrocarbon Fuels

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