Militarization, Military Regimes, and the General Quality of Life in the Third World

The purpose of this article is to reexamine the debate concerning the military/civilian regime and socioeconomic performance from the perspective of comparative budgetary processes. Specifically, do budgetary patterns differ between Third World military and civilian governments? If so, do they differ to the extent that military expenditures have a regime-distinctive impact on socioeconomic expenditures and therefore on the quality of life? The main finding is that a consistent set of socioeconomic differences exists between Third World military and civilian regimes. These differences result not only from differences in budgetary priorities but, almost as importantly, from the manner in which governments mobilize resources for military purposes.