Americans see local consent for U.S. military intervention as not only a “practical concern” but also as a “matter of moral principle,” writes @janinadill.bsky.social.
direct.mit.edu/isec/article...
The research article in International Security is now open access here:
Claiming local consent without evidence it not only morally wrong; it is also bad politics.
The piece in @foreignaffairs.com is here: www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Canada 🇨🇦 & Greenland 🇬🇱
In some cases, like Canada and Greenland, we can hear the local population rejecting U.S. military intervention, loud and clear! These potential interventions are correspondingly unpopular in the United States.
In each case, U.S. policy makers claim the local population wants “liberation”. These claims need to be interrogated. Consent to intervention is a powerful moral justification. Local preferences are, in many cases, hard to establish.
Moreover, Americans care about what the local population actually wants.
I draw on joint experimental work with Livia Schubiger & Emily Myers, in @intsecurity.bsky.social, which shows that local consent increases public support for military intervention in the United States.
Iran 🇮🇷
The unsubstantiated claim that Iranians wanted regime change curtesy of US/Israeli bombs has lost all plausibility as the air campaign caused casualties, wrecked the economy, & hardened the regime’s grip on power, contributing to the unpopularity of the war "at home".
The list of countries threatened with U.S. military intervention is growing
· Venezuela 🇻🇪
· Iran 🇮🇷
· Cuba 🇨🇺
· Greenland 🇬🇱
· Canada 🇨🇦
…just this year!
Do they all want "Liberation"? No, I argue in
@foreignaffairs.com