Norm Diffusion through US Military Training: An Exchange

In “ Norm Diffusion through US Military Training in Tunisia, ” Sharan Grewal argues that foreign soldiers who study in the United States come to absorb the entire pattern of American civil-military relations, and not just the good parts. The article describes the “ politicization of the [US] military, ” focusing on its increasing support for military personnel voting and retired officers serving in key political roles. 1 Noting that the US military deliberately aims to transmit liberal civil-military relations norms to its foreign trainees, the article investigates whether it also inadvertently transmits the “ unhealthy ” elements of American civil-military relations. 2 To answer the question, Grewal conducts interviews and two surveys of Tunisian military personnel (some who trained in France, and some who trained in the United States), and finds a positive relationship between training in the United States and Tunisian officers ’ support for a more political military. This essay proceeds in four parts. The first situates Grewal ’ s article within the wider literature on security assistance and recipient civil-military relations. The second part discusses the article ’ s contributions. The third section argues that the study, though well-designed and well-executed, should not lead readers to significantly update their priors on the major questions moti-vating most scholars and practitioners of security assistance and civil-military relations. The fourth section briefly highlights areas for future research.