Antiwar knowledge and generalized political attitudes as determinants of attitude toward the Kosovo war.

Reviewing research on determinants of war attitudes, antiwar knowledge is identified as an underresearched predictor of attitudes toward specific wars. In this article, the joint effects of specific antiwar knowledge and generalized attitudes (militarism-pacifism, authoritarianism, and diffuse political support) on evaluation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization's military intervention in Yugoslavia are investigated in a sample of 165 German university students. While the generalized attitudes related strongly to positive evaluation of the war, antiwar knowledge related only weakly to negative war attitudes. Further analyses showed that the role of knowledge was more pronounced in individuals whose generalized attitudes predisposed them to be war critics. The findings are discussed with regard to implications for promoting more peaceful attitudes among the public. Recommendations for future studies regarding methodological variations and research questions are given.