Justifying military intervention: Does military intervention reduce the public’s sense of vulnerability from Islamic terrorism?

Since military action to fight Islamic extremism began, the main justification for intervention amongst Western leaders has been a collective defense motivation of fighting the terrorist threat. In the recent conflict in Syria, the military intervention led by the United States, was justified by many western leaders through the motivation that terrorists were threatening the citizens of the homeland. By presenting terrorism as a threat to their citizens, these leaders intended to generate support from the public for military intervention abroad. The rhetoric used by these leaders promoted a feeling of vulnerability amongst the public, thereby justifying the need for intervening militarily abroad in order to decrease this threat. This research investigates whether or not citizens of the homeland actually do feel less vulnerable from a terror attack in the event that their government involves itself military abroad. Little research has yet been done on whether the feeling of...Show moreSince military action to fight Islamic extremism began, the main justification for intervention amongst Western leaders has been a collective defense motivation of fighting the terrorist threat. In the recent conflict in Syria, the military intervention led by the United States, was justified by many western leaders through the motivation that terrorists were threatening the citizens of the homeland. By presenting terrorism as a threat to their citizens, these leaders intended to generate support from the public for military intervention abroad. The rhetoric used by these leaders promoted a feeling of vulnerability amongst the public, thereby justifying the need for intervening militarily abroad in order to decrease this threat. This research investigates whether or not citizens of the homeland actually do feel less vulnerable from a terror attack in the event that their government involves itself military abroad. Little research has yet been done on whether the feeling of vulnerability amongst the public influenced the support for military intervention in the same way as other intervening states that felt threatened by terrorism. This research focusses on this issue by investigating whether interventionist actions actually have the desired result of decreasing the feeling of vulnerability for citizens of the homeland from terror attacks, with a focus on four Western foreign state actors that are actively intervening militarily in the current Syrian conflict: the US, the UK, France and Germany. A general tendency of positive correlation between the concern for Islamic extremism and the support for military intervention was found.Show less

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Justifying military intervention: Does military intervention reduce the public’s sense of vulnerability from Islamic terrorism?