Teaching Civil-Military Relations

Abstract

In a democracy, those who govern have power by virtue of a popular vote of their country's citizens. While not similarly elected, the military also holds power. Consequently, effective civil-military relations the relationship between elected civilian leaders and the military are vital to those seeking to create a government that is ultimately responsive to the people who elected it. The key issue remains how a democratic government can exert control over the military, rather than the other way around. This is especially important since the military formed the government in many countries, and in others the military is relied on periodically to support a civilian government. As always, "the devil is in the details" because institutions such as defense ministries, legislative committees, oversight commissions, and others must exercise control over the military for a democratically elected civilian government to succeed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA485174

Entities

People

  • Thomas C. Bruneau

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Best Practices
  • California
  • Counterterrorism
  • Defense Planning
  • Democracy
  • Education
  • Foreign Policy
  • Governments
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Systems
  • Schools
  • Security
  • Students
  • Training

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.