Civil-Military Relations in Peacebuilding: Boko-Haram in Perspective

Abstract

The paper attempts examining the relationship between civilians in society and the military as a peace building institution in a violence prone polity. Thus, because of the relevance of the subject, the study focuses on contextualizing the contending dynamics of civil-military relations from the colonial period to date. Aspects of this relationship and the sometimes extreme tension characterizing it, hence thwarting efforts at mobilizing against the threat to the state as an organic entity by the Boko Haram insurrection are coherently brought to the fore as core themes within the article. The methodology sourced to sustainably direct the thrust of our argument leans heavily on the qualitative analysis (non numerical approach) of existing data. Findings confirm that a major bane of the war on terror is the discord between the military and civil society. This is in the sense that members of the civil society perceive themselves as victims of the arbitrary conduct of the military against them hence their refusal to partner with the military in confronting the menace of Boko Haram plaguing the country. This condition has negatively imperiled the harnessing of a robust civil-military relations that should have contributed in fashioning out an avenue for intelligence sharing that will naturally fortify the chosen strategy against the Boko Haram terrorist organisation. Therefore, the work advocates that if set goals are to be achieved, then international human rights precepts must be observed which should include strict adherence to the principles defining the central themes in the rules of engagements (ROE) as troops are deployed amidst the civil populace.