Joint Military Exercises and the Management of Military Relationships

• In Event: Poster Session: International Security I

Abstract

The number of joint military exercises and the number of countries participating in joint military exercises has been increasing. One part of this trend is the growth in the number of exercises between countries that do not have a formal military alliance. The growth in exercises between nonaligned countries is puzzling. Joint military exercises can improve combined military effectiveness and they reveal information about a country’s military strengths and weaknesses. Formal allies need to coordinate joint military capabilities and they share a political agreement that works against one party exploiting information about a partner’s military weaknesses, but nonaligned countries have no clear reason to coordinate military power and could have the information they reveal to their erstwhile partners used against them. I argue that major powers have turned to joint military exercises with nonaligned states because they provide a valuable tool for gaining information about military capabilities and the identities of important military leaders while preparing them to take on regional security missions. Weaker states have agreed to joint exercises with because they are a useful way to establish a military relationship with major powers without the political baggage of a formal alliance. At the same time, minor and emerging powers have expanded their participation in joint military exercises as a hedge against competing major powers. I document the trends in joint exercises and explore the reasons for them using a new, large-n dataset of joint military exercises.

Author

• Jordan Bernhardt, Stanford University