Third World Militarization

This study statistically examines the causes of variance in military expenditures as a percentage of Gross National Product for 63 Third World states from 1969-1978 using a pooled time-series analysis. A country's immediate external environment (its security web), its political process, and its degree of incorporation into and dependence on the world economy are analyzed as to their effect on its defense burden. The findings provide strong statistical evidence that a Third World country's immediate external environment has a significant impact on that country's military burden, thereby suggesting that a subsystemic level of analysis is needed in studying state military allocations.