THE SUI GENERIS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CIVILIAN AND MILITARY ELITES

Abstract

The relationship between civilian political authority and the armed forces has always been a scholarly
endeavour in both democratic developed nations and the developing states that try to get
democratized. This paper aims to analyze the issue of militarism and civil-military relationship as a
concept from a comparative perspective. Following different theoretical models of civil-military
relations, this paper adopts a comparative methodological perspective among different countries. It is
argued that militarism makes it hard to recognize the boundaries between what can be seen in the
scope of the military and what can be seen as part of the civilian political sphere. Thus it is an
important concept while studying democratization literature as well. The politicization of the military
elites follows different paths in different contexts emerging from a diversity of factors. This paper also
explore these factors in a comparative way. The historical, political, and societal parameters all have a
role in shaping civil-military relations. These factors have different impacts in different countries.