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Political Armies

The Military and Nation Building in the Age of Democracy

By: Kees Koonings (Editor), Dirk Kruijt (Editor)

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Paperback | 1 May 2002 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
416 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.5 x 15.88 x 2.54

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In the post Cold War era does the withdrawal of armies from direct rule in most countries herald an end to their role as actors in domestic politics? Is it indeed sensible to assume that political intervention by the military has been more or less permanently superceded? Drawing on the 20th century experience of a dozen important countries this book examines a number of closely related issues:

â¢ What generalizations can be made about the causes and enduring consequences of military rule for nation building and economic development?
â¢ How have the passing of the Cold War, the rise of globalization and other changes in the 1990s affected the political role of the military?
â¢ How can we assess the role of political armies in relation to the problems of consolidating civil politics and democratic governance?
â¢ Are there lessons for policy makers to be learned from a comparative analysis of political armies in such fields as global governance and post-conflict reconstruction?

This stimulating set of explorations and investigations builds on previous theories about the role of the military in politics and looks to the future - the possible proliferation of armed actors, new perversions in the domestic roles of the armed forces, and the much more prominent emergence of privatized forces of law and order.

Industry Reviews

This timely volume raises hugely important issues for the aftermath of political armies which cannot be ignored. The particular forte of the contributors lies in their ability to penetrate the thinking of the military and to highlight their capacity for "strategic" responses to the dilemmas resulting from the dismantling of the Cold War and the surge of democracy ... Quite probably the most important and sophisticated comparative volume on the subject of the military and politics to emerge in recent years. * Eboe Hutchful, Wayne State University *
Political Armies lays bare the important truth about civil-military relations in the post-cold war world. * Johanna Mendelson Forman, American University, Washington, DC *
A provocative and wide-ranging collection of first-rate case studies on the political roles armies have played and still play around the world. The choice of countries included is very original and the wide ambit of issues it covers makes it the most comprehensive book existing today on this ongoing debate. This timely volume is essential for understanding the importance of the military factor in current processes of democratization as it gives a cautionary sign about the ever-existing prospects of authoritarian regression. * Patricio Silva, editor of The Soldier and the State in South America *

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