ABSTRACT
The military may pursue such intervention by acts of commission but also by acts of omission. Now to intervene the military must have both occasion and disposition. There are factors disposing the military to intervene, so there may be factors inhibiting them from such action. The most obvious of such factors is the lack of motive. An important factor inhibiting a desire to intervene is military professionalism. Huntington maintains that the logical consequence is for the officer corps to leave politics to the politicians. In addition to professionalism plus the tradition of civilian supremacy other factors serve from time to time to deter the military from intervention. The complex motivations of the military vary with each particular case. The Egyptian army for instance acted from rage and humiliation at its ignominious defeat in Palestine, from rabid nationalism, and from social resentment at the eftendi class.
