Renaissance of Democratic Control of Armed Forces in Contemporary Societies

It seems that the democratic control of armed forces, which was considered in the Cold War to be settled as an issue, is undergoing a renaissance. This is evidenced in both consolidated and consolidating democracies in Europe that reflect the gradual evolution of acceptance of the right to democracy or democratic governance among the international community. Samuel Huntington coined the recent democratisation process as the ‘Third Wave’, which started with Portugal and Spain in the 1970s, continued in Latin-American, Eastern Europe, as well as in some Asian countries in the 1980s and 1990s. The renaissance of the issue of the democratic control of armed forces is part of this Third Wave as public accountability of the security structure is a cornerstone of democracy. Additionally, new security issues associated with human security have become more important, particularly since 9/11, and require a revalorisation of the governance and economic dimensions of international politics. The main question this book addresses is ‘How to institutionalise civil-military relations in such a way that the military has enough capacities to protect society but in such a manner that those military capacities are not threatening society itself?’