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Working Group "Civilian Control of the Armed Forces"

Co-ordinator: Currently available

About

The working group was founded under the name "Democratic Control of the Armed Forces" at the biennial ERGOMAS conference in Stockholm, 1998. The initiator was Stefan Sarvas (MoD Research Division, Czech Republic) who also became the WG's first co-ordinator. After Stefan Sarvas resigned in 1999, Hans Born (DCAF, Switzerland) took over and led the WG for ten years. In October 2009, David Kuehn (GIGA Hamburg, Germany) was elected the new co-ordinator of the working group. At the 11th ERGOMAS conference in Amsterdam, the WG's name was changed into "Civilian Control of the Armed Forces" to reflect the broader perspective of its members' activities and research interests. In November 2019, Maja Garb (University of Ljubljana) was elected as the new co-ordinator of the working-group. In February 2025, Maja Garb stepped down as WG-coordinator and the post is currently available.

 

News and activities

Recent publications by Working Group members

 

Paper room

Tartu Conference 2021

At the 16th Biennial Conference of ERGOMASin collaboration with theISA Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution Resarch Committee (RC01)in Tatu, Estonia, 19 – 23 July 2021, there were three session organized bythe WGCivilian control of the armed forces. The chairs and organizers were Maja Garb, David Kuehnand Yagil Levy. 

The presenters and papers:

  • Kairi Kasearu, Eleri Lillemäe, Eyal Ben-Ari: Social Cohesion, Social Contracts and Military Covenants: Negotiated relations and solidarity in Estonia

  • Pauline Collins: Absence of Courts in the Civil-Military Dynamic and the Consequences for Discipline

  • Oleh Ivanov: Sociology of the Military in Ukraine: From systematic to case studies

  • Ina Kraft: Mapping Multinational Cooperation

  • Eyal Ben-Ari: Threats, Militarization and Democratic Accountability in Japan: “Normalizing” the Japan Self Defense Forces?

  • Lindy Heinecken: South Africa: Moving from Militarization to De-Militarization to Re-Militarization

  • Sabine Kurtenbach and Désirée Reder: El Salvador - Old Habits Die Hard

  • Chiara Ruffa: France: Swinging Securitization Paths?

  • Rafa Martinez, Oscar Jaíme: Spain: A War without an Army

  • David Kuehn, Insoo Kim: The Ministry of National Defence in South Korea: Civilian control despite military dominance

  • Anit Mukherjee: Expert and the Politician: Re-conceptualizing civilian control over the military in india

  • Maja Garb: Military and Politics: Politicization still or again? 

Athens Conference 2015

Papers presented at the 14th ERGOMAS conference in Athens, Greece, June 26-30, 2017. For more details and copies of the papers, please contact the presenters directly.

  • "Routes to Reform. Civil-Military Relations and Democracy in the Third Wave", by David KUEHN (david.kuehn@ipw.uni-heidelberg.de) and Aurel CROISSANT
  • "Persuading Hearts and Minds: an Analysis of NATO's Use of Persuasion Techniques on the Polish Armed Forces, 1993-2003", by Rachel NANNING (rachel.nanning.15@ucl.ac.uk)
  • "Civil-Military Relations in Erdogan's Turkey:  From Class Authoritarianism to Sultanism?", by Gerassimos KARABELIAS (gkarabelias@yahoo.com)
  • "Civil-Military Relations in Hybrid-Regimes: The Role of Informal Rules and Institutions in the Russian Armed Forces", by Jack J. PORTER (Porterj1@citadel.edu)
  • "How to Get Rid of False Good Ideas? Civilians and the Military Facing the Temptation of Return to Conscription", by Barbara JANKOWSKI (barbara.jankowski@defense.gouv.fr)
  • "Expectations of National Defence for the Civil Society", by Tarja WIIKINKOSKI (Tarja.wiikinkoski@avi.fi). Download a summary of the paper.
  • "Developments in Civil-Military Relations: The Swedish Armed Forces Managing Legitimacy in a Post-Materialist Society", by Arita HOLMBERG (arita.holmberg@fhs.se) and Sofia NILSSON
  • "The Relations between the Military and the Politics during Periods of Political Uncertainty. The French Case", by Sébastien JAKUBOWSKI (SebJakubowski@aol.com). Download a summary of the paper.
  • "The Act of Decision-Making between Senior Civil and Military Decision-Makers Revisiting Hermann: Decision Units and Decision Paths", by Mirjam Grandia MANTAS (Mirjamgrandia@gmail.com)
  • "Concordance Theory, Defence Personnel Relations, and the Global War on Terror", by Rebecca SCHIFF (rschiff1@msn.com) and Irina GOLDENBERG
  • "Privatizing the Israeli Defense Forces: Retracing the Public-Private Divide", by Guy I. SEIDMAN (gseidman@idc.ac.il)
  • "Private Military & Security Contractors: Controlling the Corporate Warrior", by Gary SCHAUB Jr. (gs@ifs.ku.dk)

 

Ra'anana Conference 2015

Papers presented at the 13th ERGOMAS conference in Ra'anana, Israel, June 8-12, 2015. For more details and copies of the papers, please contact the presenters directly.

  • Kobi Michael (kobimichael24@gmail.com), "Coping with terror: A learning challenge of the civil and military echelons in a democratic state"
  • Barbara Jankowski (barbara.jankowski@defense.gouv.fr), "Recent evolution of the relations between civilian authorities and generals at the political-military level"
  • Rebecca Schiff (rschiff1@msn.com), "Civil-military relations in Pakistan and Israel: a U.S. foreign policy assessment"
  • Meytal Eran-Jona (meytalej@gmail.com) & Eyal Ben-Ari (feba@netvision.net.il), "Military relations with local civilians: Multiple logics and organizational transitions"
  • Philip Lorenz (philip.lorenz@ipw.uni-heidelberg.de), "NGOs and institutional reform in Indonesia’s new democracy"
  • David Kuehn & Aurel Croissant (david.kuehn@ipw.uni-heidelberg.de), "Establishing civilian control of the military in new democracies: Evidence from the third wave of democratization"
  • Rosaria Puglisi (Rosariap@yahoo.com), "Citizens’ vs civilian control of the security sector in post-Maidan Ukraine"
  • Marwa Maziad & Amr Yossef (amr.yossef@aucegypt.edu), "A military regime? Reconsidering Egyptian civil-military relations"

 

Madrid Conference 2013

Papers presented at the 12th ERGOMAS conference in Madrid, Spain, June 4-7, 2013. For more details and copies of the papers, please contact the presenters directly.

  • Kijoo Kim (kkj0408@hotmail.com), "Why civilian control of the military in South Korea lags behind"
  • Amir Bar’Or (baror_am@bezeqint.net), "Civil-Military Relations in Israel: A Critical Examination"
  • David Kuehn and Aurel Croissant (david.kuehn@ipw.uni-heidelberg.de; aurel.croissant@ipw.uni-heidelberg.de), "Establishing civilian control of the military in new democracies: theory and empirical evidence"
  • Jack J. Porter (porterj1@citadel.edu), "The Diffusion of Western Civil-Military Institutions: Lessons Learned from Iraq and Afghanistan"
  • Insoo Kim and Jung-il Kang (kma6453@gmail.com), "When are North Korea’s NLL violations perceived as a provocation"
  • Said Haddad (said.haddad@st-cyr.terre-net.defense.gouv.fr), "Crisis? What Crisis? After the Revolutions, the Spring of the Maghreb’s Armed Forces"
  • Erik Hedlund (erik.hedlund@fhs.se), "Swedish security policy and military doctrine: from divergence to convergence"
  • Kuemmel, Gerhard (GerhardKuemmel@bundeswehr.org), "Between Rejection of War and Intervention Fatigue: Civil-Military Relations in Germany"
  • Alexandre Lambert (Alexandre.Lambert@sit.edu), "Civilian Control in the OSCE Area: 20 years Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security"
  • Daniel Blocq, Marie-Louise Damen and Igor Petrovic (dblocq@ssc.wisc.edu) "Differential Participation of Soldiers in Collective Action: The Effect of Support and Opposition from Colleagues and Superiors"
  • Nadja Douglas (nadja.douglas@hu-berlin.de), "Civil-military Relations in post-Soviet Russia: Why shifting to an all-volunteer force"
  • Christian Leuprecht (christian.leuprecht@rmc.ca), Canada’s Armed Servants: Discretion in Grand Strategy"
  • Heiko Biehl (heikobiehl@bundeswehr.org), "Who should govern the military? Bringing civil-military relations and strategic culture together"
  • Barbara Jankowski (barbara.jankowski@defense.gouv.fr), "Military Influence in Defense Decision Making in France: Facts and Perceptions"

 

Amsterdam Conference 2011

Papers presented at the 11th ERGOMAS conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 13-17, 2011. For more details and copies of the papers, please contact the presenters directly.

  • Erik Hedlund (Swedish National Defence College, Sweden, erik.hedlund@fhs.se), Self-images among Swedish peacekeeping soldiers
  • David Kuehn (University of Heidelberg, Germany, david.kuehn@ipw.uni-heidelberg.de), A Game Theoretic Model of Civil-Military Relations in New Democracies
  • Insoo Kim (Korean Military Academy, Seoul, South Korea, kma6453@gmail.com), Kim Jong-Il's Field Inspection and the Party-Military Relations in North Korea
  • Saïd Haddad (Ecoles de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan, France, said.haddad@st-cyr.terre-net.defense.gouv.fr), Inside and Outside the State. What role for the Armed Forces in North Africa’s New Era?
  • Guy Seidman (The Radzyner School of Law, Israel, gseidman@idc.ac.il), When Money Talks: The ramifications of IDF privatization on its democratic controls
  • Philip Völkel (Institute for Political Science, Heidelberg University,Germany, voelkel@uni-heidelberg.de), Indonesia‘s and Turkey’s moves towards civilian control
  • Jack J. Porter (The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA, porterj1@citadel.edu), Contested Authority in the Afghan National Armed Forces: Nation versus Village in the Construction of a Combat Effective Military
  • Marian Zulean (University of Bucharest, Romania, mzulean@gmail.com), Democratic Soldiering in Romania: From Norms through Policy to Reality