Military Training, Norms, and Professionalization

Session Submission Type: In-Person Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel provides a comprehensive and diverse look at an important mechanism of constructing civil-military relations: military training. Each paper examines a different aspect of the relationship between security sector reform and military norms or behaviors. These papers test their arguments through in-depth analyses of a range of distinct countries and regions, using a variety of methodological tools. Chinchilla’s paper sets the stage, relying on extensive archival research and interviews to explain the varied reasons why great powers often employ military advisors to build partner militaries, as well as the circumstances in which this form of alliance management is likely to occur and succeed. Boutton and Fabian focus on the other end of this relationship, using surveys to examine the effect of participation in the American International Military Education and Training program on norm internalization and self-perception among individuals in the Hungarian army. Joyce’s paper also examines the effects of American security assistance, but instead of measuring individual trainee attitudes, she uses an original dataset to identify its relationship to the military’s behavior in domestic politics in Africa. Lastly, Ash and Shapovalov employ a lab-in-the-field experiment in Ukraine to determine whether public support for the armed forces depends on the type of Ukrainian military unit—the regular army, or volunteer battalions—with which they interact. Together, these four papers provide a fresh look at the international dimensions of civil-military relations and the diverse effects of military training in a variety of contexts and with a broad range of methods.

Sub Unit

• Division 19: International Security 

Chair

• Austin Carson University of Chicago

Discussant

• Risa A. Brooks Marquette University

Individual Presentations

• Advising War: Limited Intervention in Conflict - Alexandra Chinchilla, Dartmouth College

• Military Aid as Soft Power: Human Capital and Norm Transmission Between Allies - Andrew Boutton, University of Central Florida; Sandor Fabian, University of Central Florida

• Security Assistance and Military Behavior - Renanah M. Joyce, Brandeis University

• Trust During Military Reform? A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment in Ukraine - Konstantin Ash, University of Central Florida; Miroslav Shapovalov, University of Central Florida