"The military's political involvement in most of the third world has been so pervasive that it has been a defining characteristic of political underdevelopment."
"coups had become the functional equivalent of elections, virtually the sole manner of ousting incumbent political leaders."
59 LDCs had 274 attempted coups, 1946-70
diminishing after 1980
Causes of military intervention
Military Strengths
organizational cohesion
training and ideology linked
to domestic politics
recruiting patterns with social class implications
control of weapons
sometimes foreign encouragement
Nature of Civil Society -- weaknesses of civilian
political institutions
public support for procedures
for transfer of power
public support for politcal
leaders and system
strong party systems penetrate and organize society
economic success -- key detractors are inflation, corruption, civil war,
chaos
gnp > $1,000 - very few successful coups
gnp > 3,000 - few coup attempts
strength of civil society
Orientation of Military Regimes
Modernizers (Ataturk)
Conservatives: Officers recruited from upper
classes, landed elites, or from established middle classes that defend
status quo
Progressive, Leftist: Officers recruited from
middle classes which resent elites
Goals of Military Regimes
Personal enrichment
Institutional Military Regimes
Bureaucratic Authoriatarian