Civil Military Relations and Democratic Consolidation in New Democracies: conceptual and theoretical framework

Abstract

For new democracies, a main challenge is instituting a civilian control of military. Though, there is no well-known conceptual framework for understanding that what civilian control requires and how precisely weak civilian control infringes on democratic value. So, the article addresses this knowledge gap to develop a novel conception of civilian control of the military and typology of civil-military relations regimes in new democracies. It offers to comprehend the civilian control as the circumstances in which political elites have the power to make decisions in all pertinent political affairs. By differentiating civilian control over military as comprising of five important indications of civil military relations, this novel concept permits for a nuanced examination of civilian control and comparative analysis. Moreover, it also provides an inclusive framework for assessing the effect of inadequate control of civilian authorities on various dimensions of the ‘liberal democracy’ systematically.