The Role of the Constitution in Constraining the Military

Abstract: For a long time and with few exceptions, political economists have assumed the military to be a faithful government agent. The frequent occurrence of military coups all over the world, however, indicates that this assumption is not in line with reality. In this paper, the determinants of coups are identified. Particular attention is paid to constitutional rules that could possibly reduce the likelihood of military coups. We find that economic conditions, the type and age of the political regime and political instability appear to be reliable predictors of coup attempts by the military. For many other variables discussed in the literature an effect on coups cannot be established.