Framing War

Francesco Olmastroni is an assistant professor of Political Science at the University of Siena. He teaches Quantitative Methods in the PhD programme "Political Science, European Politics and International Relations" and Cultural Diplomacy and Public Diplomacy in the MA programme "Public and Cultural Diplomacy" at the University of Siena. He has been a visiting scholar at the School of Media and Public Affairs (George Washington University)..

• Introduction: From the elite to the public, from the public to the elite. 1. A cyclical model of framing 2. "Going public" for framing in different political and media systems 3. Methodology 4. The three actors and the war of frames in the United States 5. The three actors and the war of frames in Italy and France 6. Conclusion

'In Framing War, Francesco Olmastroni has captured once again the vital importance of understanding how politicians lead publics to war. In words and symbols, national leaders such as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney highlight a presumed problem; attributes causes, and then watch as seemingly inevitable and morally sanctioned violence is embraced by public opinion.'—Steven Livingston, George Washington University'This is a comprehensive and creative study of media, public opinion and foreign policy. That it employs a comparative approach makes it just about unique in the field. The book is a major contribution to our understanding of the relationships between elites and a sometimes gullible, other times resistant public opinion— interactions influenced by news organizations that have their own interests and limitations. Deftly deploying an original conceptualization of political framing processes in response to problems such as those purportedly originating in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Olmastroni sheds compelling new, theory-building light on foreign policy-making and political communication.'—Robert M. Entman, author of Scandal and Silence (2012) and Shapiro Professor of Media & Public Affairs, George Washington University Robert M. Entman J.B. and M.C. Shapiro Professor School of Media and Public Affairs George Washington University 'The study presented in this book provides a solid methodological and theoretical analysis of the relation between the government, citizens, and media in the case of the Iraqi war. This book also presents the merit to analyze responsiveness in the context of foreign policy: an area of the phenomenon still under investigation.'—Danilo Di Mauro, Italian Political Science