Arbiters of Social Unrest: Military Responses to the Arab Spring

Abstract

What explains the variance in military behavior during popular uprisings in Northern Africa and the Middle East? Contrary to models which tout the internal characteristics of the military, the external political, social and economic conditions, the influence of Western economic and military assistance or the transformative experience of educating officers in Western schools, it is argued that it is instead a matter of the political restraints and interests of the military which determines the likelihood of military intervention in the political domain. Higher levels of restraints on the military will result in more reactive and slower decision making, and a lower propensity to intervene. Higher levels of interests will result in a higher likelihood of military intervention.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA562816

Entities

People

  • William Parsons
  • William Taylor

Organizations

  • United States Military Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Human Population
  • Military Budgets
  • Military Education
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Military Training
  • National Security
  • Political Movements
  • Political Systems
  • Recreation
  • Social Media
  • Societies
  • Students
  • United States Military Academy
  • Urban Areas

Readers

  • Economics
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.