Civil-Military Relations: What Is the State of the Field

Abstract

In the study of states and societies, civil-military relations ought to occupy a central position. It is only the armed forces that can provide for a nation’s defense and at the same time are capable of overturning that nation’s government. These dual powers are extraordinary and can constitute both an essential coercive asset and a potential threat to governments and citizens that must be neutralized. The goal of any state is to harness military professional power to serve vital national security interests, while guarding against the misuse of power that can threaten the well-being ofits people. To face this challenge, governments must be properly equipped and motivated to lead, militaries must be sufficiently subordinate to civilian rule, and societies must better understand what roles the armed forces should and should not play. The rich literature on civil-military relations addresses these topics, and much more. In fact, the subfield is vast, and no single essay can do it justice. To simplify the task, we have focused on four essential elements: military coups, democratic transitions, civilian control, and military- societal relations. Within each of these topics, discussion will be limited to what are, in our view, some of the key scholarly works on the subjects.