Training the Man on Horseback: U.S. Training and Military Coups

"The current, unusual state of civil-military relations in the United States has been noted many times. Many count on the deeply ingrained professionalism of the U.S. military (rather than their political leaders) to guard against unwarranted engagement in domestic politics. It is not clear we can have the same optimism in other countries, particularly as the United States works to strengthen foreign militaries with little counterbalancing assistance to other parts of civil society. Training imparts valuable resources to a potentially dangerous section of a developing state — the security forces — and increases the distance between them and the rest of the government and society. Increasing trainees’ human capital is likely to increase resource demands on the regime and improve the military’s ability to remove the regime should its demands not be met."