ABSTRACT
For a number of reasons, belligerent leaders in wartime will often make forceful, uncompromising, and truculent public statements. There is, first, the desire to avoid looking weak and to seek the appearance of strength and a behavior. An unwillingness (one might even say inability) to back down from an initial position is thus at its base a psychological phenomenon, and backing away therefore has certain psychological consequences: the leader who retreats from a publicly-stated position risks losing face, risks appearing weak, risks his/her sense of personal prestige, ego, and pride. Moreover, leaders may not even realize that backing down is an option; they may become victims of their own propaganda. It is apparent that cognitive dissonance exists, but without access to the workings of the mind of a wartime leader, actual evidence for it can usually only be inferred. The chapter focuses primarily on the political trap created by the making of uncompromising public statements.
