Civilian Control of the Military: The Changing Security Environment

Civilian Control of the Military: The Changing Security Environment. By Michael C. Desch. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8018-6059-8. Figures. Tables. Appendix. Notes. Index. Pp. xiii, 184. 134.95.

Desch, a political scientist, focuses on a crucial issue in civil-military relations: civilian control of the military. Specifically, he attempts to develop and test a theory that explains why we get different levels of civilian control. In doing so, Desch also revives an old, unresolved debate concerning the effect of the international system on civilians' ability to successfully control the military.

Desch suggests that the degree to which civilians control the military is shaped primarily by two factors: external/international and internal/domestic threat environments, real and perceived. The most important internal threats are threats to the military's institutional interests.

Based on his "structural" theory, Desch deduces several hypotheses and predictions about the nature of civilian control in different threat settings. He essentially argues that states...