keep in mind that the politician would always seek the perceived "popular" attitude in order to ensure reelection and that war could not be declared by any one politician. One example of this might include the attitudes expressed by many national politicians just after World War II, and into what was to become known as the Cold War. After the defeat of the Fascist regimes in Germany, Japan, and Italy, American politicians viewed the Soviet Union as a new and dangerous threat. American interests abroad would clearly be served by a rhetorical "war" between the saviors of democracy and the communist government in Russia. Thus, the national politicians used the threat of war as an ideological tool designed to increase their own popularity, while at the same time purporting to prevent another war.4
This attitude of using the possibility of war as a political tool is echoed internationally. Witness, for instance, a recent article in Foreign Affairs in which former or current politicians from the national arena in France, Japan, and the United States commented on the state of east west relations and found that as a diplomatic tool, war, more specifically the fear of war, was a viable way in which to establish a pattern of stability in the contemporary world.5
For the average citizen, however, the idea of war is much different than that of a politician. In part this may be due to the fact that war generally impacts upon the lives of citizens to a greater degree. Families lose fathers an
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