Civil-Military Relations: Civil Control, Oversight and the Demilitarisation of Society

Abstract

At this point, the focus moves to the political context. This chapter focuses on civil-military relations and more specifically on civil control and oversight mechanisms and effectiveness. The argument is made that one of the reasons why civil control has become problematical is because South Africa has become demilitarised, leading to an ever-widening civil-military gap. With fewer and fewer people knowledgeable about military matters, this has weakened civil control, oversight and accountability.