Abstract
Which types of militarization affect child mortality? Which type appears to lower it; which appears to push it higher? This paper focuses on social militarization (i.e., troops as a proportion of workforce-aged population) and praetorian militarization (i.e., the military’s control or strong influence over the government), investigating their impact on child mortality using pooled time series analysis covering 142 countries from 1996 through 2008. We find that social and praetorian militarization have opposite effects even after controlling for potentially confounding influences. Access to basic public health infrastructures and education mediate between each type of militarization and child mortality.