Coercion and Governance: The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia

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Stanford University Press, 2001 - Political Science - 594 pages
This far-ranging volume offers both a broad overview of the role of the military in contemporary Asia and a close look at the state of civil-military relations in sixteen Asian countries. It provides in-depth discussion of civil-military relations in countries where the military still continues to dominate the political helm as well as others where, in varying degrees, the military is disengaging from politics. Conceptually, the study connects the explanation for the changing relationship of the military to the state to the processes associated with the construction of nation, state, and political system, as well as the development of state capacity, economic growth, and change in the international system.

The book argues that the key to understanding civil-military relations in Asia and elsewhere is the role of coercion, in state and nation building and in the exercise of political authority. As coercion in these processes increases or decreases, so does the political power and influence of the military. Civilian supremacy requires superior political, ideational, moral, and economic power translated into strong institutions that can regulate the military and limit its role in governance.

A key finding of the volume is that, overall, the political power and influence of the military in Asia, though still considerable in some countries, is on the decline. At present only Burma and Pakistan are under military rule, though the military is the central pillar of the totalitarian regime in North Korea. The number of Asian countries under civilian rule has increased dramatically. However, the relationship between the state and the soldier is not a settled issue, and in democratizing countries, civil-military relations is still a contested domain that is being redefined incrementally, often through struggle. The study concludes that, in the long term, the power of the military will continue to decline, and that the growing dominance of democratic civilian control in Asia is likely to endure.

 

Contents

Introduction I
1
An Analytical Framework
29
From Containment to Normalization
69
The New Militaries 32
92
Consolidating Democratic Civilian Control
121
The Remaining Challenges
143
Not So Military Not So Civil
165
An Uneasy Accommodation
209
Transformation of Legitimate Violence
294
Conditional Compliance
317
From Revolutionary Heroes to Red Entrepreneurs
336
Institutionalized Military Intervention
357
Return to Praetorianism
385
Soldiers as State Builders
413
Key Developments Explanations
433
Notes
499

On a New Course?
226
A Congruence of Interests
259
CivilMilitary Fusion
276

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Page xxvii - A regime may be thought of as the formal and informal organization of the center of political power, and of its relations with the broader society. A regime determines who has access to political power, and how those who are in power deal with those who are not.

About the author (2001)

Muthiah Alagappa is Distinguished Senior Fellow at the East-West Center. He is the editor of Asian Security Order: Instrumental and Normative Features (Stanford, 2003), Coercion and Governance: The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia (Stanford, 2001), Asian Security Practice: Material and Ideational Influences (Stanford, 1998), and Political Legitimacy in Southeast Asia: The Quest for Moral Authority (Stanford, 1995).

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