Democratic Civil-Military Relations - Soldiering in 21st Century Europe

The volume, edited by Sabine Mannitz, analyzes the changed concepts of soldiering in Europe after the end of the Cold War

The volume on Democratic Civil-Military Relations - Soldiering in 21st Century, edited by Sabine Mannitz, analyzes the changed concepts of soldiering in Europe after the end of the Cold War in a comprehensive comparison. Democratic Peace Theory is guiding the case studies theoretically. It takes into account national as well as international factors that impact the transformations of the armed forces and their changed political role.

 

The breakdown of the Soviet Empire brought up new challenges for the military politics in East and West. While in post-communist countries, democratization asked for a new civil-military relation, West European armed forces were called upon to fulfill new tasks from humanitarian interventions to assistance in nation-building.

 

The volume presents twelve case studies on the ways in which these global political developments affected the military institutions and the concepts of soldiering across Europe. The studies illustrate that the new security political and defense tasks imply  much more than an adaptation pressure towards structural changes in the armed forces.

 

The patterns of civil-military relations are changed in this vein, traditional images of the soldier are questioned, and democratic control of the armed forces is put to an endurance test.

 

The volume is published with Routledge. In addition to editor Sabine Mannitz, Marco Fey and Harald Müller also contributed to this book.