Nationalist sentiments characterize the Scotish James Macpherson’s Ossianic tales and the Persian Abul-Ghasim Ferdausi’s Shahnameh. Macpherson is remembered for his role in the nationalist Gaelic revival against the cultural dominance of Great Britain and Ferdausi is credited for enlivening Persian language and culture at the time of Arab dominance. However, Macpherson’s dual position, both as ...

A study was conducted to examine the effects of nation-states’ political institutions on state relations. War-fighting and selection-effects explanation were compared to explain why democracies were more likely to win wars. An analysis of all interstate wars between 1816 and 1982 revealed that democracies that initiate wars often win them. Results also suggest that domestic political structure ...

Measures of sentiment can help refine a Warfighter’s knowledge and understanding of an unfamiliar operational environment, for example, the sentiment of civilians and insurgents to the Army, its operations, or its adversaries. In addition, observing changes in expressed sentiment about topics over time may provide baselines from which to detect if and when important shifts in attitude occur tri...