Description
The provision of military training and equipment to partners and proxies is a perennial feature of international politics. Security assistance represents a key vehicle through which states seek to project influence internationally, and has been variously linked to the intensification of (civil) wars, military coups, and the perpetuation of authoritarian regimes. Simultaneously, security assistance has also been presented as a pillar in global efforts to counter terrorism, strengthen democratic governance and shore up human rights via processes such as military professionalisation and security sector reform. In no small measure, the key to understanding these diverse outcomes lies in a fuller appreciation of the impact of international competition on the processes and practices of military aid. In recently scholarship, principal-agent theory has been used to conceptualise a global marketplace for military assistance, in which patterns of competition and cooperation shape the aims and preferences of suppliers and recipients alike. Accurately modelling these dynamics, however, requires a detailed appreciation of the different forms and functions that security assistance can take, and the ways in which these diverse manifestations of political will and military expertise interact with each other on the ground. This paper presents a typology of security assistance, charting the varied aims, functions and forms of security assistance to better understand patterns of competition and co-operation – and the associated implications for governance, security, and the projection of geopolitical influence.
