National security councils: their potential functions in democratic civil-military relations

Abstract

This article builds on recent contributions to the study of civil–military relations (CMR) by broadening the focus beyond democratic control to encompass other dimensions and levels of analysis. There are problems with the classical literature, as has recently been noted by some scholars. The first problem is that CMR has dealt almost exclusively with issues of control. In the more established democracies, the literature focuses on how control is exercised; in newer democracies, on how it can be achieved. What is scarce in the literature is attention to what the military and other security forces do; that is, their roles and missions and how effectively they implement them. Second, the CMR literature consists mainly of detailed case studies that are difficult to generalize to other times and places.