Exploring Military Noncombat Operations

Abstract

This research explored the relationship between the factors of public support for military noncombat operations and for combat operations. Three experiments each assessed how the specifics of a situation, individual belief sets, and their combination influenced public support for the policy options. The research found the factors influential on public support for noncombat and combat were essentially the same, but a preference for noncombat existed after taking personal belief sets into account. Additionally, characteristics of the situation mattered. Instrumental situation and personal belief set elements were the most influential, but situation elements considered normatively infinitely valuable, such as human lives, retained direct influence on public support even after accounting for personal value sets.