"Casualty panic": Military recruitment models, civil-military gap and their implications for the legitimacy of military loss

This article addresses the issue of what defines Casualty Panic, which in recent years has impacted upon military policy in liberal-democratic states. The author claims that the hesitation to enter into military engagements for fear of incurring casualties is a consequence of moral panic among the political and military leadership. This moral panic is engendered by elite groups who have ready access to themedia and key political decision-makers influential in formulating the political agenda. Individuals from the ranks of the combatants and military command are salient actors in these elite groups. There is a connection between the mode of military recruitment and the civil-military gap-the larger the gap, which ranges from a civilian to a private army, the less likely the appearance of Casuality Panic influencing military strategy and tactics. The case study draws upon the period from Israel's incursion into Lebanon (1982) to the second Lebanese incursion (2006).