This study examines conditions which are influencing the American military to approach a behavioral threshold in civil-military relations. This threshold is a point of departure from traditional subordinated behavior. At the threshold a divergence is forecast toward either: (1) direct intervention into government (coup d'etat), or (2) institutional autonomy within government (substantive behavior). The central issue is an unresolved relationship between temporary partisan civilian regimes and enduring military professionalism. Research is focused on the influences of a professional heritage and on contemporary environmental stress upon military behavior in American civil-military relations. Research reveals that perceptions of regime legitimacy significantly affect the likelihood of crossing the American threshold. Key variables in the contemporary environment are found to be: (1) a definition of professionalism weighted with national vs. regime loyalty, and (2) a perception by the military of an accelerating external threat to national survival which is not perceived by the society it serves.

ADA 093988 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)