[This Posting was made by Svipja on 15 Jul 2009. A lot has happened in the CMR arena in the Indian Context in the recent past. It was therefore considered prudent to establish 'Svipja Civil-Military Relations Chair' from within resources of Svipja Technologies, a Think Tank in its own right. Our research will be objective, impartial and a positive delivery to Democratic forms of Govts, with special focus on India. This Note in fact marks genesis of the Chair.]
Indian Military has remained loyal and apolitical since Independence. It appears to have faced ‘not-so-pleasant’ handling in our system, reasons are many. Has resulted in ‘grouses’, at the levels of officers and men which are amply seen lately. As a ‘maturing democracy’, we all need to be careful. We can not afford to let the professionalism of the Indian Military erode in view of challenges & commitments that the nation has.
It is time that we develop a ‘dynamic model’ for better understanding of the type of civil-military relations which could dominate the country’s political life. The creation of a multi-factorial model is therefore needed. This model ought to be a composite one. The following issues could be considered:
Firstly, The military institution itself. A close observation to the size of the military institution, the social background and the level of professionalism of its members, their political ideology, their level of cohesion and unity as well as that of their desire to protect their corporate interest(s), could offer us a better chance for comprehending the relations.
Secondly, the model should take into consideration the effect of the domestic social, economic and the political environment in which the military institution lives and functions. Special attention ought to be paid to the political factors since it is this which will greatly determine whether the process of democratisation has established strong roots in the nations’ military and the country.
Thirdly, the role of the international factor and more specifically the influence which the major foreign powers could exercise upon both the military establishments, and the country’s para-military forces in their routine interactions.
Lastly, the past and the present role of the military institutions in the evolution of civil-military relations. A small rider below should be added here.
Most studies of civil-military relations are greatly concerned with the 'military factor' only after an intervention occurs. The role of these institutions in domestic policy-making process in situations where the military does not rule, is often neglected or under-estimated. Although most of research anywhere focuses on the immediate factors leading to the military intervention, they forget that the military organization as "a system of continuous purposive activity of specified kind" functions within the society long before the pre-intervention stage. It is said that "the direct control of govt. by officers or military junta is only a crude indication of the role that the armed forces may be playing at a given moment, for men in uniform have sundry ways of making their will felt".
The phenomenon needs a continuous study. May be institutions like IDSA /Other Think Tanks could help in regular profiling of Civil-Military Relations in India. The relations are ‘not very diligently’ handled presently, to say the least.
Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh
http://www.svipja.com/
Credit: NATO Study on Turkey & Greece.
Indian Military has remained loyal and apolitical since Independence. It appears to have faced ‘not-so-pleasant’ handling in our system, reasons are many. Has resulted in ‘grouses’, at the levels of officers and men which are amply seen lately. As a ‘maturing democracy’, we all need to be careful. We can not afford to let the professionalism of the Indian Military erode in view of challenges & commitments that the nation has.
It is time that we develop a ‘dynamic model’ for better understanding of the type of civil-military relations which could dominate the country’s political life. The creation of a multi-factorial model is therefore needed. This model ought to be a composite one. The following issues could be considered:
Firstly, The military institution itself. A close observation to the size of the military institution, the social background and the level of professionalism of its members, their political ideology, their level of cohesion and unity as well as that of their desire to protect their corporate interest(s), could offer us a better chance for comprehending the relations.
Secondly, the model should take into consideration the effect of the domestic social, economic and the political environment in which the military institution lives and functions. Special attention ought to be paid to the political factors since it is this which will greatly determine whether the process of democratisation has established strong roots in the nations’ military and the country.
Thirdly, the role of the international factor and more specifically the influence which the major foreign powers could exercise upon both the military establishments, and the country’s para-military forces in their routine interactions.
Lastly, the past and the present role of the military institutions in the evolution of civil-military relations. A small rider below should be added here.
Most studies of civil-military relations are greatly concerned with the 'military factor' only after an intervention occurs. The role of these institutions in domestic policy-making process in situations where the military does not rule, is often neglected or under-estimated. Although most of research anywhere focuses on the immediate factors leading to the military intervention, they forget that the military organization as "a system of continuous purposive activity of specified kind" functions within the society long before the pre-intervention stage. It is said that "the direct control of govt. by officers or military junta is only a crude indication of the role that the armed forces may be playing at a given moment, for men in uniform have sundry ways of making their will felt".
The phenomenon needs a continuous study. May be institutions like IDSA /Other Think Tanks could help in regular profiling of Civil-Military Relations in India. The relations are ‘not very diligently’ handled presently, to say the least.
Brigadier (Retired) Sukhwindar Singh
http://www.svipja.com/
Credit: NATO Study on Turkey & Greece.
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