Thanks for Your Service

Peter D. Feaver is a Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University. He is Director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy and co-PI of the America in the World Consortium. Feaver is also the author of Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations (2003) and Guarding the Guardians: Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons in the United States (1992). He is co-author of Paying the Human Costs of War (with Christopher Gelpi and Jason Reifler, 2009); Getting the Best Out of College (with Susan Wasiolek and Anne Crossman, 2008, 2nd edition 2012); and Choosing Your Battles: American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force (with Christopher Gelpi, 2004). He has published numerous other monographs, scholarly articles, book chapters, and policy pieces on grand strategy, American foreign policy, public opinion, nuclear proliferation, civil-military relations, and cybersecurity. Feaver served on the NSC staff in both the Clinton (as aDirector for Defense Policy and Arms Control, 1993-1994) and Bush (as Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform, 2005-2007) administrations. He is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group.

This important book provides data that is going to fuel a decade of civil-military scholarship. Peter Feaver is the lighthouse for all of us in the field and shows conclusively that our military needs to work harder to keep its feet out of the wolf trap of partisan politics if it is to remain broadly respected by Americans.

• AcknowledgmentsList of TablesList of FiguresChapter 1: Introduction PART I: Who Has Confidence in the Military?Chapter 2: Confidence in the Military Over Time and Today Chapter 3: Confidence and the Gaps: Knowledge, Media, Education, Social ContactPART II: Why Do People Have Confidence in the MilitaryChapter 4: How Confidence in the Military Relates to Confidence in other Institutions Chapter 5: Performance, Professional Ethics and Public Confidence Chapter 6: Politics, Politicization and Public Confidence Chapter 7: How Social Desirability Bias Props Up Public Support for the Military PART III: Why Confidence in the Military MattersChapter 8: Whether/How Confidence Shapes Concrete Support for the Military Chapter 9: Whether/How Confidence Shapes Attitudes about the Military as an Instrument of Foreign Policy Chapter 10: Whether/How Confidence Shapes Intangible Benefits Enjoyed By the Military Chapter 11: ConclusionList of References Index