Selling a 'Just' War: Framing, Legitimacy, and US Military Intervention

Michael J. Butler uses just war theory to analyze how the decision to go to war was framed for public consumption in three recent US military interventions: the Gulf War, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. He shows how presenting these operations as legitimate and virtuous has proven to be a highly salient, adaptable, and ultimately effective mechanism for manufacturing broad societal support for war and for the continued primacy of military force in US foreign policy.