The surprising lessons Millennials took from 9/11
| Washington
A new study suggests that Millennials' views of America's role in world have been shaped by 9/11 鈥� but perhaps not the way some might expect.
Millennials 鈥� those Americans born between 1980 and 1997 鈥� are 鈥渄eeply skeptical鈥� of United States military intervention in foreign countries, the notes.
Although the 9/11 attacks took place during a 鈥渃ritical period of opinion shaping鈥� for the generation, it did not generate 鈥済reater concern about terrorist attacks and increased support for aggressive foreign policies,鈥� the study found.
Instead, Millennials 鈥減erceive the world as significantly less threatening than their elders do, and therefore show increased support for a more restrained foreign policy even as they still support global engagement through diplomacy and trade,鈥� the report finds. 鈥淢illennials are less concerned about supposed national security threats, more sanguine about the new distribution of power and the rise of China, and least likely to describe themselves as a 鈥榩atriotic person.鈥� 鈥�
Indeed, Millennials appear to regard 9/11 as evidence of a need for greater US restraint. The Cato Institute researchers, for example, point to that found that Millennials are more likely than older generations to believe that the US鈥檚 own policies may have contributed in some way to the 9/11 attacks.
Having been witness to what they widely consider to be the failures and waste of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they are less likely to support military force in 鈥渨hat may be a permanent case of 鈥業raq Aversion,鈥� 鈥� the study posits, which is equivalent to what young adults in the 1960s and '70s called 鈥淰ietnam Syndrome.鈥澛�
In part as a result, perhaps, Millennials remain particularly supportive of humanitarian interventions to prevent large-scale humanitarian crises, 鈥渟o long as it doesn鈥檛 involve US-centric solutions to the internal politics of other nations.鈥澛�
This should all be considered important grist for any political campaign, note authors A. Trevor Thrall and Erik Goepner, who used extensive polling data to probe the opinions of Millennials.聽
They concluded the report with some advice for presidential candidates who might be tempted to stake out hawkish positions as the campaign heats up.
These hopefuls 鈥渟hould not waste time trying to convince Millennials that Russia鈥檚 behavior spells the start of a new Cold War or that China鈥檚 rising power signals the need for massive increases in the defense budget,鈥� they advise.聽
鈥淣or should candidates try to convince Millennials that US grand strategy must revolve around a sacred duty to eradicate international terrorism.鈥�
Millennials now make up one quarter of the US population and an increasingly important voting block.
