This article explores the phenomenon of high levels of public trust in the military across the Global South. We extend arguments from the US civil-military relations literature to a broader context and generate testable hypotheses to explain trust in the armed forces driven by the military’s performance and professionalism, and the public’s patriotism and partisanship. Using public opinion survey data from 73 countries between 1995 and 2017, we find broad but nuanced support for the hypotheses. Many determinants of public trust in the military, theorized in the US context, generalize globally: battlefield performance, resources, national pride, and right-wing partisanship all increase trust in the military, while coups and civil wars decrease it. By contrast, the effect of conscription is opposite to that in the United States, with national service providing a trust boost. The study highlights the implications of public trust for civil-military relations, political stability, and governance.

中文翻译：

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我们信任的军队：公众对全球南方军队的信心


本文探讨了南半球国家公众对军队高度信任的现象。我们将美国军民关系文献中的论点扩展到更广泛的背景，并提出可检验的假设来解释军队的表现和专业精神以及公众的爱国主义和党派偏见所驱动的对武装部队的信任。利用 1995 年至 2017 年间 73 个国家的民意调查数据，我们发现这些假设得到了广泛但细致的支持。公众对军队信任度的许多决定因素，在美国背景下理论化，在全球范围内普遍存在：战场表现、资源、民族自豪感和右翼党派之争都会增加对军队的信任，而政变和内战则会降低对军队的信任度。相比之下，征兵的效果与美国相反，服兵役可以增强信任。该研究强调了公众信任对军民关系、政治稳定和治理的影响。