On the Warpath

Jim Orford is Emeritus Professor of Clinical and Community Psychology at The University of Birmingham. He is a longstanding, internationally recognized researcher and writer in community psychology and addiction. He edited the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology for 10 years and was a founding member of the European Community Psychology Association and the Community Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society. He has been a leading campaigner for gambling reform in Britain and for recognition of the family effects of addiction internationally. His work has been published in over 50 different peer-reviewed journals, and he has written or edited over 11 books, including the ground-breaking Excessive Appetites: A Psychological View of Addictions.

• Introduction: Posing the Question, Why is War Supported?Chapter 1 Wars, Old and New, Costs and ControversiesChapter 2 The Personal Attraction of WarChapter 3 War in Defense of National and Other Identities and ValuesChapter 4 Thinking of Us and Them, Enemies and HeroesChapter 5 Embedded Militarism and Readiness for WarChapter 6 Engineering Consent: Propaganda and PersuasionChapter 7 Just War? War as a Moral DilemmaChapter 8 An Answer: Toward a Unified Understanding of War SupportBibliography

Professor Orford's work illustrates the psychological dynamics that lead public to support militaristic policies and practices. In particular, it helps the reader to understand how the "national security" discourse is maintained by perceptions of intergroup threat and often fabricated accounts of "national insecurity". On the Warpath is a very important contribution to the literature.