Robert Ralston

University of Minnesota

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i-10 index

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Ronald R. Krebs

University of Minnesota

Jennifer Spindel

University of New Hampshire at Manchester

Vladimir M. Sloutsky

The Ohio State University

Aaron Rapport

University of Cambridge

Thierry Balzacq

Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris

Matthew Motta

Boston University

David Blagden

University of Minnesota

Shaul R. Shenhav

Jerusalem University College

Markus Steinbrecher

Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr

B. D. Wickline

Cooperative Institutions

University of Minnesota

Cornell University

University of Minnesota System

University of Cambridge

Bridge University

Georgia State University

Twin Cities Orthopedics

The Ohio State University

Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr

Leibniz-Centre for Contemporary History

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The national security state and the uses of militarism

Constitutional Political Economy (2024)

Ronald R. Krebs Robert Ralston

Militarism

10.1007/s10602-024-09448-x

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Cue Validity, Feature Salience, and the Development of Inductive Inference.

Cognitive Science (2019)

Robert Ralston Vladimir M. Sloutsky

Salience (neuroscience)

Inductive Reasoning

Feature (linguistics)

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Arc Length as a Geometric Constraint for Psychological Spaces

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2021)

Robert Ralston Vladimir M. Sloutsky

Author(s): Ralston, Robert; Sloutsky, Vladimir | Abstract: Many cognitive models assume that stimuli can be represented as points in a latent psychological space. However, it has been difficult to provide these spaces with a geometric structure where the distance between items accurately reflects their subjective dissimilarity. In this paper, we propose a new method to give psychological spaces a geometric structure by equating the amount of change undergone by a stimulus with the arc length of a curve in psychological space. We then assess our method with a categorization experiment where participants classified continuously changing visual stimuli according to their rate of change. Our results indicate that individuals’ judgements are well predicted by arc length, suggesting that it may be a promising geometric constraint for psychological spaces in other contexts.

Equating

Arc length

Stimulus (psychology)

Source

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When OK is Not OK: Public Concern About White Nationalism in the U.S. Military

Armed Forces & Society (2020)

Robert Ralston Matthew Motta Jennifer Spindel

Are Americans aware and concerned about White nationalism in the U.S. Military? Our large and demographically representative survey suggests that while most Americans suspect at least some presence of White nationalism in the military, many do not view it as a serious problem; particularly self-identified conservatives and respondents who hold highly favorable views toward military service members. However, in a between-/within-subjects experiment embedded in our survey, we show that providing information about the issue of White nationalism in the U.S. Military increases the public’s overall concern about White nationalism in the U.S. Military.

White (mutation)

Military organization

Suspect

10.1177/0095327x20918394

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Why They Fight: How Perceived Motivations for Military Service Shape Support for the Use of Force

International Studies Quarterly (2021)

Ronald R. Krebs Robert Ralston Aaron Rapport

Abstract What shapes public support for military missions? Existing scholarship points to, on the one hand, individuals’ affiliations and predispositions (such as political partisanship and gender), and, on the other hand, factors that shape a rational cost–benefit analysis (notably, mission objectives, the prospects for victory, and the magnitude and distribution of costs). We argue that public opinion is also shaped by beliefs about why soldiers voluntarily enlist. Using novel survey data and an experiment, deployed to a nationally representative sample of Americans, we test how four conceptions of soldiering affect support for a prospective military operation. We find, in observational data, that believing that a soldier is a good citizen or patriot bolsters support for the mission, while believing that a soldier has enlisted because he wants the material benefits of service or has “no other options” undermines support. These results support our causal argument: Americans’ attitudes toward military missions are shaped by their perception of whether the soldier has consented to deployment rather than by feelings of social obligation. This article has implications for debates on the determinants of public support for military missions and the relationship between military service and citizenship in democracies.

Argument (complex analysis)

Public support

Obligation

Affect

Survey data collection

10.1093/isq/sqab033

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Citations (27)

No Right to Be Wrong: What Americans Think about Civil-Military Relations

Perspectives on Politics (2021)

Ronald R. Krebs Robert Ralston Aaron Rapport

An influential model of democratic civil-military relations insists that civilian politicians and officials, accountable to the public, have “the right to be wrong” about the use of force: they, not senior military officers, decide when force will be used and set military strategy. While polls have routinely asked about Americans’ trust in the military, they have rarely probed deeply into Americans’ views of civil-military relations. We report and analyze the results of a June 2019 survey that yields two important, and troubling, findings. First, Americans do not accept the basic premises of democratic civil-military relations. They are extraordinarily deferential to the military’s judgment regarding when to use military force, and they are comfortable with high-ranking officers intervening in public debates over policy. Second, in this polarized age, Americans’ views of civil-military relations are not immune to partisanship. Consequently, with their man in the Oval Office in June 2019, Republicans—who, as political conservatives, might be expected to be more deferential to the military—were actually less so. And Democrats, similarly putting ideology aside, wanted the military to act as a check on a president they abhorred. The stakes are high: democracy is weakened when civilians relinquish their “right to be wrong.”

Civil–military relations

Military theory

Military threat

10.1017/s1537592721000013

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Democracy in the Crucible of Conflict

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics (2018)

Robert Ralston Ronald R. Krebs

The field of international relations has long focused on understanding and explaining the causes of war. In contrast, scholars have devoted relatively little attention to war’s consequences. However, scholarly literature on the consequences of violent conflict, including its effects on liberal democracy, has burgeoned and improved in recent decades, since the 1990s. Existing research shows that security threats, mobilization, and warfare are neither entirely negative nor entirely positive with respect to liberal democracy. On the one hand, in the short run, these pressures erode liberal institutions and values. On the other hand, large-scale mobilization and warfare—both interstate and civil—encourage broader and more intense participation at the individual level and strengthen participation’s structural foundations. However, despite recent advances, there remains much that we still do not know, which suggests promising avenues for future research. The existing literature has not sufficiently or systematically distinguished among the effects of threat/insecurity, mobilization, and warfare. It has been stronger on empirical findings than on developing the mid-range theories and causal mechanisms that would make sense of those findings. It has been firmer on conflict’s impact on individual attitudes and predilections than on how and when violence reshapes larger political processes and structures. It has had more to say about conflict’s short-run effects than its long-term effects, especially with respect to contestation. The impact of violent conflict on liberal democracy remains a rich soil for future research.

Mobilization

Civil Conflict

Crucible (geodemography)

Liberal democracy

10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.512

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A Call to Arms for Climate Change? How Military Service Member Concern About Climate Change Can Inform Effective Climate Communication

Environmental Communication (2020)

Matthew Motta Robert Ralston Jennifer Spindel

Military service members are a highly trusted group – especially among ideological conservatives. Consequently, we devised an environmental communication strategy that attributes pro-climate messages to military service members, aimed at convincing conservative climate skeptics to express elevated concern. In a large survey experiment, we show that conservatives are more likely to express concern about climate change when framed as a national security concern and communicated by members of the armed services. Supplementary analyses of an original military service member survey suggest that this approach is externally valid, as many past and current armed forces express concern about the effects of climate change. Our study demonstrates the effectiveness of appealing to trusted sources to communicate climate change risks to skeptical audiences, and suggests several promising avenues for future environmental communication research.

Skepticism

10.1080/17524032.2020.1799836

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Citations (22)

Citizenship Traditions and Cultures of Military Service: Patriotism and Paychecks in Five Democracies

Armed Forces & Society (2024)

Ronald R. Krebs Robert Ralston Thierry Balzacq David Blagden Shaul R. Shenhav

Why do people think that soldiers and officers join the military? In this article, we report and explain unique survey results of nationally representative populations in five democracies—France, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Beliefs about motivations for military service vary significantly by nation. In Israel and France, large majorities endorse intrinsic accounts of service motivations—that is, those centering on patriotism and good citizenship. The U.S. population is nearly evenly split between extrinsic accounts—ascribing service to the pay and benefits received or to the desire to escape desperate circumstances—and intrinsic ones. A large majority of U.K. and Germany-based respondents hew to extrinsic service accounts. We argue that the most plausible explanation lies with prevailing national citizenship discourses, in combination with the military’s operational tempo. This research has implications for public support for military recruitment, the use of force, and democratic civil–military relations.

Patriotism

10.1177/0095327x241275635

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Dangerous Instrument: Political Polarization and US Civil-Military Relations. By Michael A. Robinson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022. 312p. $110.00 cloth, $29.95 paper.

Perspectives on Politics (2024)

Robert Ralston

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

10.1017/s1537592723002657

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