ABSTRACT
The basic problem about military regimes is one not of how they can gain power, but of what they can do with it. A military coup, like an election victory, installs a new government and helps to define a pattern of opposition and support which will constrict its political options. But as time goes by, the way in which a government gained power takes second place to the problem of how it is to keep it, and it is at this point that the most distinctive dilemmas of military regimes become apparent. In formulating such a programme, the military quickly comes up against the limitations imposed by its own values and structures; at the same time, the political analyst comes up against the corresponding problem of whether there are structures and values, common to all militaries, which can be used to provide a general rationale for the behaviour of military regimes.
