Military influence in political, social and economic spheres of national or international life may be direct, in the form of dictatorship, or less direct, in influencing the size of defence budgets or the orientation of foreign trade agreements and alignments. Foreign powers may give military aid to others which they wish to influence in political or economic matters.
In 1993, elite army units were placed on red alert and the Chilean high command met several times in combat uniform to consider a list of complaints against President Patricio Aylwin's centre-left government, which which they, under General Pinochet who led the military coup, have uneasily coexisted since elected rule in 1990. One complaint from the leader of the main conservative party, criticized political pressure on his party by the military.