TAFACMR15U Civil-Military Relations in Africa

This course will investigate into the alleged connection between the role of the African Military and the process of democratization, primarily in East Africa.

In the very beginning of the postcolonial period in Africa the question about how to organize and run a society was answered by introducing several different approaches. In search of the right answer ideas like globalization, modernization and dependence theories were introduced. Walt Rostow, for instance, presented the economy as the catalyst for modernization. As with the economy so can the professional armed force play an important role in the process of modernization, since the army can turn in to a vanguard of nationalism and social reform, it is argued from Manfred Halpern. The point made by the “modernist” is that the army, due to its discipline, training, organizational structure and technological know-how, can take on the role as front-runner in the effort of modernizing the society. Furthermore, the demands for sustaining the technological level within the army give rise to increasing industrial standards in society. In 1968 Stanislaw Andreski even takes the argument further and suggests a causal link between the participation in military affairs and the likelihood of self-government and human rights. It is presented as the “Military Participation Ratio”. A high military participation ratio (MPR) decreases income inequality within a society, it is argued. As late as 1989 Robert A. Dahl argues that as far back as to the antic Greeks, the dynamics between military organizations and technology on the one side and social progress in the society on the other has been paramount in understanding why some countries has develop democracy and some don’t. The point, he argues, is that the access to the military virtues and the ability to exert “violent coercion” has resulted in demands for political systems and organizations in the society and thus driven the development towards democracy.

But the African states were left with very different military capacities during their liberation, so no common effect could easily be measured, and many of these theories about the military as spearhead for development is criticised for not taking into account the regional and the international security dynamics which very often would force the military back into their traditional role of war fighting.  During this course the alleged connection between the African military and the process of democratization will be questioned and examined for the purpose of gaining better knowledge on this matter.