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'Modern government and modern warfare both require mass support, and as a result, national governments find it necessary to mobilize popular sentiment behind any important move in international politics. Official and unofficial propaganda continuously drums home the message that the friends and allies of the nation are virtuous and the enemies evil. The average man in the street has a firm belief that the governments (and possibly the people as well) of certain nations are his friends in a very personal sense while others are his enemies. He is willing to pay high taxes, obey regulations that may be detrimental to his private interests, and even go to war and kill people in support of his nation's foreign policy. He would be shocked and horrified if his government suddenly asked him to alter all his opinions and fight on the side of the nations he dislikes against the nations he likes. Sudden changes [in the foreign policy] are therefore made particularly difficult by the role of the modern public opinion.'

A.F.K. Organski - from his book World Politics.