Description
The paper introduces a theoretical framework to study which motives are advanced by people for justifying war. The proposal is that war and peace are justified based on three fundamental motives: saving human lives (Human Lives), seeking justice (Justice), and pursuing national interest (National Interest). The framework is tested in eight empirical studies asking people to report why they support war or peace in the context of various armed conflicts (e.g., the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war). The results show that, while Human Lives is typically stressed more by people who endorse peace, Justice typically motivates people to support war. National Interest often plays a role too, but whether this encourages war or peace depends on the specific conflict. The paper examines also the role of political ideology in war endorsement. The data show that ideological differences in opinions about war often occur because of ideological differences in prioritizing Human Lives, Justice, and National Interest. Typically, conservatives stress National Interest more than liberals, with repercussions for whether conservatives endorse war or peace more than liberals. The paper sheds light on public opinion about important conflicts in contemporary geopolitics and offers a novel theoretical and empirical framework to study why people support war.
