British Public Opinion after a Decade of War: Attitudes to Iraq and Afghanistan

Rachael Gribble; Simon Wessely; Susan Klein; David A. Alexander; Christopher Dandeker; Nicola T. Fear

doi:10.1111/1467-9256.12073

British Public Opinion after a Decade of War: Attitudes to Iraq and Afghanistan

Rachael Gribble^*, Simon Wessely, Susan Klein, David A. Alexander, Christopher Dandeker, Nicola T. Fear

^*Corresponding author for this work

Robert Gordon University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Using data from the 2011 British Social Attitudes survey (n=3,311), this article compares British public opinion of the purposes and successes of the Iraq and Afghanistan missions. Public acceptance of military deaths/injuries, the accuracy of public estimates of military fatalities and how these differ according to opinions of the missions are determined. It is found that the British public is doubtful of the missions' achievements and cynical about their purposes. Perceptions of the campaigns were associated with the accuracy of estimations of UK military fatalities, and the acceptability of military deaths/injuries. Implications for social and political theory and British foreign policy are discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	128–150
Number of pages	23
Journal	Politics
Volume	35
Issue number	2
Early online date	2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9256.12073
Publication status	Published - 2015

Keywords

Afghanistan
Iraq
Military fatalities
Public opinion
UK military
MILITARY

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1111/1467-9256.12073

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9256.12073/abstract

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title = "British Public Opinion after a Decade of War: Attitudes to Iraq and Afghanistan",

abstract = "Using data from the 2011 British Social Attitudes survey (n=3,311), this article compares British public opinion of the purposes and successes of the Iraq and Afghanistan missions. Public acceptance of military deaths/injuries, the accuracy of public estimates of military fatalities and how these differ according to opinions of the missions are determined. It is found that the British public is doubtful of the missions' achievements and cynical about their purposes. Perceptions of the campaigns were associated with the accuracy of estimations of UK military fatalities, and the acceptability of military deaths/injuries. Implications for social and political theory and British foreign policy are discussed.",

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AU - Klein, Susan

AU - Alexander, David A.

AU - Dandeker, Christopher

AU - Fear, Nicola T.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

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AB - Using data from the 2011 British Social Attitudes survey (n=3,311), this article compares British public opinion of the purposes and successes of the Iraq and Afghanistan missions. Public acceptance of military deaths/injuries, the accuracy of public estimates of military fatalities and how these differ according to opinions of the missions are determined. It is found that the British public is doubtful of the missions' achievements and cynical about their purposes. Perceptions of the campaigns were associated with the accuracy of estimations of UK military fatalities, and the acceptability of military deaths/injuries. Implications for social and political theory and British foreign policy are discussed.

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KW - Military fatalities

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KW - UK military

KW - MILITARY

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EP - 150

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JF - Politics

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ER -

British Public Opinion after a Decade of War: Attitudes to Iraq and Afghanistan

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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