The influence of public opinion on post-Cold War US military interventions

Is the American president free to wage a war? What is his leeway with respect to public opinion? The book explores these and other essential questions in understanding post-Cold War and post-9/11 conflicts: interventions characterized by their long duration in distant countries with unclear strategic interests. If public opinion often initially tolerates the President embarking on a military intervention, that support is difficult to maintain in the long term when the troops are on the battlefield and victory appears improbable. In order to maintain public support as long as possible for foreign interventions, the United States often adapts military strategy and tactics to the detriment of the desired objectives. As a result, and contrary to the predominant literature, this qualitative study argues that public opinion has major impact on military interventions.