Did the Iraq war have a body bag effect?

Type of content
Journal Article
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
University of Canterbury. School of Language, Social and Political Sciences
University of Canterbury. Media and Communications
University of Canterbury. Political Science
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2012
Authors
Bahador, Babak
Walker, Scott
Abstract

Did mounting troop casualties during the Iraq War tum the American public against the conflict? Analyzing public opinion data from over 400 public polls during the first six years of the war, this article attempts to identify whether there was a "body bag effect" in play. We create a multivariate model that tests a number of potential hypotheses including cumulative and marginal troop casualty as well as death milestone effects. We find that cumulative casualties provide a better explanation for the decline in public support than marginal casualties during the Iraq War. Contrary to the findings from the Korean and Vietnam Wars, this holds true during both periods of escalation and de-escalation.

Description
Citation
Bahador, B., Walker, S. (2012) Did the Iraq war have a body bag effect?. American Review of Politics, 33(Fall/Winter), pp. 247-270.
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Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Field of Research::16 - Studies in Human Society::1606 - Political Science::160604 - Defence Studies
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