Propaganda and Combat Motivation: Radio Broadcasts and German Soldiers' Performance in World War II

Date

2019

Authors

Barber IV, Benjamin
Miller, Charles

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Volume Title

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Abstract

What explains combat motivation in warfare? Scholars argue that monitoring, material rewards, and punishment alone are insufficient explanations. Further, competing ideological accounts of motivation are also problematic because ideas are difficult to operationalize and measure. To solve this puzzle, the authors combine extensive information from World War II about German soldiers’ combat performance with data about conditionally exogenous potential exposure to Nazi radio propaganda. They find evidence that soldiers with higher potential exposure to propaganda were more likely to be decorated for valor even after controlling for individual socioeconomic factors, home district characteristics like urbanization, and proxies for combat exposure.

Description

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Citation

Source

World Politics

Type

Journal article

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Entity type

Access Statement

Open Access

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Restricted until