Democratization and Civilian Control in Asia

Civilian control of the military is intricately linked to democratic rule. The authors analyze civil-military relations in new democracies of East, Southeast and South Asian nations, beginning by proposing a new conceptual and theoretical framework to identify the status of civilian control in newly established democracies and to explain changes over time. Based on this framework, they then trace the interrelated development of civil-military relations and democratic institutions in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. By comparing the insights gained from the case studies, they then identify patterns and differences in the relationship between civilian control over the military and democratic quality and consolidation. While establishing civilian control of the military is a necessary condition for a functioning democracy, it requires prudent strategic action on the part of the civilian decision-makers to remove the military from positions of power and make it follow their orders.

AUREL CROISSANT teaches Political Science at Heidelberg University, Germany. His research interests include comparative politics, especially in East and Southeast Asia, theoretical and empirical research on democratization, civil-military relationships, terrorism and political violence, political parties, and the comparative study of authoritarianism.
PAUL W. CHAMBERS is Political Science Lecturer and Director of Research at the Southeast Asian Institute of Global Studies, Payap University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. His research interests and published works focus on politics in Southeast Asia with thematic emphasis on democratization, civil-military relations, international politics, and political economy issues.
DAVID KUEHN is a research fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg, Germany. His research focuses on civil-military relations, democratization studies, social science methodology and game theory. He has published in various peer-reviewed journals, including Democratization, the Journal of East Asian Studies, and European Political Science.
PHILIP LORENZ is a lecturer and research fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg, Germany. His research focuses on civil-military relations, democratization studies and civil society. He has published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Party Politics and the Asian Journal of Political Science.

'This is an excellent book about democratic governance of the military in Asia, written by authors with a solid academic reputation on the issue of civil-military relations. The book gives interesting concepts, insights and entry points for security sector reform and its relation with democratic consolidation in the region. Governmental readers should be sobered, and non-governmental ones energised, by this timely book.' - Hans Born, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Switzerland