Foreign Military Training and Socialization

An Examination of Human Capital and Norm Transmission Between Allies

Bibliographic Data

ID9976964
AuthorsSándor Fábián (Defense Security Cooperation University , United States), Andrew Boutton (0000-0003-2293-2514, University of Central Florida)
Year2024
Volume68
Issue2
Publication date2024-03-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8833 • E-ISSN: 1468-2478
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/isq/sqae040
OpenAlexW4394996367
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited25

s Foreign military personnel routinely participate in educational and cultural programs administered by the U.S. military. In addition to bolstering the capacity of the recipient military, one of the primary goals of these programs is to professionalize the military of the recipient state. It is hoped not only that the soldiers will internalize norms of human rights and democracy themselves but also that they will become influential members of the military in the future. Existing cross-national research, along with selective anecdotes of U.S.-trained soldiers leading coups and rebellions, suggests that military aid may be ineffective. To date, however, a nuanced understanding of the more granular effects of military aid on the recipient country has been hindered by a lack of data and a focus on the macro-level. We address this lacuna by examining norm transmission among a sample of the Hungarian officer corps. We show that while soldiers who graduated from IMET programs display more favorability toward human rights and democracy, they do not believe the military should remain insulated from policymaking. We believe this is a valuable step toward a deeper understanding of how U.S. military aid shapes recipient militaries and, more broadly, how norms are transmitted between allies

Economic growth · Economics · Human capital · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Socialization · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Psychology · Social Psychology

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