vansmith
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I'd argue that this might be too broad a generalization. The Russian government has successfully mobilized their population (as least as far as Canadian media portrays it) and it's very much a democracy (it might have its faults but so do all democracies). In a very different sense, a war can be unpopular and still continue unabated. In doing some research, it looks as if public support for the Vietnam War dipped below 50% in July of 1967. It looks as if the president at the time wasn't re-elected in 1968 and his successor was re-elected in 1972 despite the fact that the U.S. was still involved in the war until 1973. What I'm trying to get at is that although war can push people out of office, it doesn't always do so.That's a good thing, democracies cannot pursue wars that are an electoral liability. Sometimes that makes them appear weak, just look at appeasement in the 1930s and the appeasement Putin has got over Ukraine (although now he really has gone too far and is now like the naughty child who has broken his parents vase - he hopes that if he does nothing or just blames the dog, he'll get away with it).
Aside note: Wikipedia seems to suggest that Canada's involvement in the Vietnam War is mired in debate. I can tell you that's just wrong (Canada couldn't have been less interested in that war). The fact that the Vietnam War doesn't even register as a footnote in history classrooms speaks to that.