Institutionalizing the Ad Hoc: New Military Aid Programs

In recent years, the United States has carried out programs of military aid involving small amounts of money, spent for equipment having to do with patrolling activities and support for U.S.-organized counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns. Those projects are noteworthy for being concentrated disproportionately in countries which are not U.S. client states rather than, as with most other forms of military aid, in client states. This paper explores three hypotheses to account for this contrast, concluding that an organizational process (cybernetic) explanation works best: the focus on nonclients is driven by the programs' institutionalization, combined with the current geographical areas in which most U.S. proxy wars are concentrated.