War, Democracy and Casualties : How democracies can secure public support for war with many casualties

This thesis addresses the challenges for democracies to maintain support for war when there are many casualties. Casualty Sensitivity Theory, Elite Cue Theory and theories on the “Rally Round the Flag” Effect are used to explain how war and casualties influence public opinion in democracies. Relevant aspects from these theories are applied on a comparative case study of conflicts. These conflicts have been selected as they involve democracies at war with many casualties. The objective of this thesis is to find out how Sweden and similar democracies in Europecan rally popular support if they were to aid another European country against Russian aggression. Therefore, the cases chosen are non-existential wars where withdrawal at all times has been a viable option. The result of this study suggests a political strategy for maintaining support for war when casualty numbers are high and apply it to a Swedish/European setting.