Commissars, Commanders, and Civilian Authority

Commissars, Commanders, and Civilian Authority
Author: Timothy J. Colton
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 400
Release: 1979
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674145351

For six decade the Soviet system has been immune to military rebellion and takeover, which often characterizes modernizing countries. How can we explain the stability of Soviet military politics, asks Timothy Colton in his compelling interpretation of civil-military relations in the Soviet Union. Hitherto most western scholars have posited a basic dichotomy of interests between the Soviet army and the Communist party. They view the two institutions as conflictprone, with civilian supremacy depending primarily upon the party's control of officers through its organs within the military establishment. Colton challenges this thesis and argues that the military party organs have come to possess few of the attributes of an effective controlling device, and that the commissars and their heirs have operated as allies rather than adversaries of the military commanders. In explaining the extraordinary stability in army-party relations in terms of overlapping interests rather than controlling mechanisms, Colton offers a major case study and a new model to students of comparative military politics.

Civil-military Relations In Communist Systems

Civil-military Relations In Communist Systems
Author: Dale R. Herspring
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-04-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429726392

This book represents the first attempt to deal with the problem of how to conceptualize the civil-military relations of communist systems within a common intellectual framework. The opening chapters present three major constructs originally designed for analyzing civil-military relations in the USSR: the interest group approach, the institutional congruence approach, and the participatory model. In subsequent chapters the utility of these approaches is tested against a wide variety of communist systems, including those of Cuba, the USSR, China, Romania, Hungary, the GDR, and Poland. In probing these issues for the first time, the authors shed considerable light on the transnational differences and similarities among communist systems, and the dynamics of civil-military relations in all communist systems.

Civil-military Relations in Today's China: Swimming in a New Sea

Civil-military Relations in Today's China: Swimming in a New Sea
Author: David M. Finkelstein
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2015-03-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 131747435X

This work provides an in-depth and up-to-date examination of civil-military relations in China. It reflects the significant changes taking place in Chinese society and their impact on the civil-military dynamic, with particular attention to how the military will fit in with the new class of entrepreneurs. Rather than focusing exclusively on elite Party-Army relations, the book examines civil-military relations from various vantage points: at "the center" and in the provinces; between civilian leaders and military leaders; from a strictly military perspective and from a civilian perspective; and from the angle of specific issue areas. Chapters explore issues, such as the impact of AIDS, the defense budget, the emerging dynamic between the military and China's new leadership, resettling demobilized troops back into civilian life, and the role of the militia, reserve units, and other civilian groups. The contributors are highly respected specialists in China studies, including political scientists, historians, PLA specialists, and sociologists. They present a vibrant portrait of the new civil-military dynamic in the PRC within the complex social changes that China is exploring today.

Hammer and Rifle

Hammer and Rifle
Author: David R. Stone
Publisher:
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN:

Analysis of the central role of militarization in the devel opment of state, society and economy in the U.S.S.R. between the end of the "New Economic Plan" in 1926 and the conclusion of the first "Five-Year Plan" in 1933.

Good Governance and Civil–Security Relations

Good Governance and Civil–Security Relations
Author: Ahmed Abd Rabou
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2020-09-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000172937

Developing the traditional civil-military relations approach to include security actors, the book compares the style of civil-security relations in both Egypt and Turkey. The volume comprehends the competition between civilian actors and military and security actors to impose control over the political regimes in transition and how this is related to the issue of good governance and democratization. The Egyptian and Turkish cases are viably comparable in terms of the status of civil-security relations and level of civilian control, specifically considering the different outcomes of the latest military putsches in both country (2013 in Egypt and 2016 in Turkey), and the extended experiences of both countries with a strong military influence and presence in politics. The different responses of the Egyptian and Turkish publics to the coup attempts invite an interesting comparison, especially given that in both cases, the public was the decisive factor in the success or failure of the coup. Focusing on civil-security relations within the broader context of good governance and democracy in Egypt and Turkey this book will be a key resource for students and scholars interested in political science, specifically comparative government studies and Middle East studies.

Civil Military Interaction in Asia and Africa

Civil Military Interaction in Asia and Africa
Author: Kennedy
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2021-11-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004474358

The focus of this book is on the interaction between the civilian government and the military in Asian and African countries. The authors have gone to great lengths to provide an accurate analysis of both the advantages and the shortcomings of the respective countries' attempts to reach civil - military cooperation. Each article provides the reader with the information necessary to make a preliminary judgement on the efficiency of the given country's ability to achieve harmony between their government and their military.

No Farewell To Arms?

No Farewell To Arms?
Author: Claude Welch
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2019-04-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0429721927

In many contemporary nations, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the armed forces play a major role in governing. Historical, economic, and sociological factors have contributed to the political prominence of the military in developing countries. Nevertheless, in the 1980s several states in Latin America restored civilian rule followi

Russian Military Reform, 1992-2002

Russian Military Reform, 1992-2002
Author: Anne C. Aldis
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2004-11-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135754691

Military reform has featured prominently on the agenda of many countries since the end of the Cold War necessitated a re-evaluation of the strategic role of the armed forces, and nowhere more publicly than in Russia. Not since the 1920s have the Russian Armed Forces undergone such fundamental change. President Boris Yeltsin and his successor Vladimir Putin have both grappled with the issue, with varying degrees of success. An international team of experts here consider the essential features of Russian military reform in the decade since the disintegration of the USSR. Fluctuations in the purpose and priorities of the reform process are traced, as well as the many factors influencing change. Chapters analyse the development of Russia's security policy, structural reform of the services, the social impact of military service and experience of military conflict in Chechnya. Critical evaluations of the impact of social change on the Russian Armed Forces' capabilities and expectations complement the analysis of the on-going debate. Russian Military Reform, 1992-2002 will prove invaluable to all those interested in civil-military relationships and international security as well as to students of military theory and practice.