Military Professionalism and Regime Legitimacy — Greece, 1967-1974
The 21 April 1967 military coup in Greece almost immediately became the subject of widespread scholarly concern. A profusion of studies surfaced dealing with the reasons that propelled the Colonels to assume direct political power in "the cradle of democracy."' Some of these studies analyzed the role of military professionalism2 -considered by most scholars of civilianmilitary relations to be the most salient characteristic of modern military organizations as a variable in determining the behavior of the armed forces with respect to intervention.3 Another body of scholarly literature has at-