Abstract

Why is the confidence of the American public in its military so high?  What does it matter for policymaking and politics? Most of what we already know about this topic comes either from standard surveys designed with other purposes in mind or from older studies conducted in the pre-9/11 era. Along with my co-author, Peter Feaver (Duke), I have collected new data from two large surveys of the American public using instruments designed to probe the determinants and consequents of public confidence in the military.

Drs. Golby and Feaver's draft chapter from their upcoming book can be read here.

Bio

Dr. Jim Golby is a senior fellow at the Clements Center for National Security at The University of Texas at Austin and a lecturer in both the Department of Government and the LBJ School of Public Policy. Jim is also co-host of the "Thank You for Your Service" podcast, a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and the United States Studies Centre, and a member of the editorial board for Armed Forces & Society. During twenty years in the United States Army, Jim served as a defense policy advisor at the United States Mission to NATO, as a special adviser to two Vice Presidents, as a special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as an assistant professor at the United States Military Academy. Before becoming a strategist, Jim led a security company and a scout platoon in combat in Iraq. His Ph.D. in political science is from Stanford University, and his research focuses on civil-military relations, public opinion and foreign policy, and coercion theory.