Talk is Cheap: Democracy Promotion, Human Rights Rhetoric, and the US International Military Education and Training Program

The US International Military Education and Training (IMET) Program plays a small but mighty role in fostering security cooperation with foreign military partners. IMET funding has been justified on the grounds of promoting human rights and democratic norms among foreign officer corps. IMET's track record, however, is mixed. Does the US really attempt to promote democracy through the IMET program? What relationship exists between official democracy promotion rhetoric and actual IMET aid? What kinds of regime tend to receive more IMET aid? To answer these questions,
an original sentiment analysis of nearly 4,000 US Human Rights Reports is combined with publicly available foreign aid data to reveal several key findings. US rhetoric of democracy promotion tends to call out autocrats and praise democracies. IMET aid goes primarily to middling autocracies or near-democracies. These findings suggest a pragmatic liberal internationalism may undergird IMET aid distribution. They also suggest a possible disconnect between democracy promotion and foreign military aid efforts that may cheapen American rhetoric and undermine both projects in the long run.