ABSTRACT
Neutral foreign policy creates expectations of a restrictive foreign military sales policy. At the same time, economic and technological demands make it difficult to sustain an advanced, indigenous, armed neutrality policy without continued or even increasing foreign military sales. These factors have put the neutral governments in a dilemma: how to support indigenous military production by way of foreign military sales while fulfilling expectations of restrictive foreign military sales. The Restrictive Foreign Military Sales (REFORMIS) approach was developed to investigate this dilemma and compare neutral foreign military sales policies. A restrictive formal policy was considered the result of public demands for additional and more comprehensive control requirements and the government’s recognition of the legitimacy of such demands. According to the REFORMIS approach, the main explanation of the loose implementation of formal policy in all the neutrals is the political importance attached to indigenous military production and the anticipated benefits from foreign military sales.
