Military Involvement In Politics Research Articles

The risk of political instability and the performance of Islamic banks: does corruption matter?

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between political instability and the performance of Islamic banks in emerging countries. Design/methodology/approach For a data sample of 93 Islamic banks in 20 emerging countries during the period from 2011 to 2016, the authors identify indicators that matter most for the activities of Islamic banks. Findings The study finds that a stable government and law and order are positively correlated with the health of Islamic financial institutions. On the other hand, corruption and military involvement in politics can create an unstable environment for businesses, leading to uncertainty and risk. The study also reveals that Islamic banks operating in regions or communities with lower risk of socio-economic conditions tend to exhibit higher levels of profitability. Originality/value Overall, the study provides valuable insights into the impact of political instability on Islamic banks in emerging countries.

Determinants of Military Spending in Africa: Do Institutions Matter?

Abstract This paper focuses on the determinants of military spending in Africa by considering the role played by institutions. With data obtained between the years 1996–2019, the Driscoll and Kraay fixed effects, the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM), and the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) estimators are used. The findings suggest that government size, trade freedom, economic risk, and political risk decrease military spending, whereas government stability and military involvement in politics are found to raise it. Using alternative institutional variables, we find that corruption, government effectiveness, political stability, regulatory quality, the rule of law, and voice and accountability significantly diminish military spending in Africa. In addition, concerning the economic determinants, the results reveal that trade openness and total natural resource rents reduce military spending, while GDP per capita, inflation, and foreign debt stocks increase it. Looking at strategic determinants, arms imports, urban population, and ethnic tensions positively affect African military expenditures. Robustness checks show that these results change once regional specificities are considered. The study concludes that institutional factors could be an engine for evolution in Africa’s military spending.

What Restrains Military from Targeting Civilians in Civil Wars?

ABSTRACT What explains the role of restraints on military for limiting victimisation of civilians? We find that a higher number of officers trained on counterinsurgency are associated with a lower number of civilians killed by government forces in civil wars. We also find that the number of civilians killed by government forces reduces as the degree of military involvement in politics reduces, and as the judiciary becomes independent. These results suggest that if the goal is to curb indiscriminate civilian killings, better training in counterinsurgency, the existence of judicial checks, and lowering military influence in politics are practical policy tools.

State’s soldier or soldier’s state: A glance at civil-military relations theory

A country can be regarded as a democratic one within its encompassing approach to human rights, political participation, equality among its citizens, rule of law and freedoms such as speech, thinking and practices of all them. To this list, robust and consistent civil-military relations can be added. Military in a country has a noble and alturistic task to defend its country against internal and external threats. To accomplish this task, the civil-military relations should be treated and maintained carefully by related actors in favour of the nation. As Gregory Foster claims, when this relationship deteroriates, common benefit of political cadres and military staff which is protection and security also fails. A country’s cultural and historical background can give reasons to the armed forces to intervine into politics. The military officers may act as if they are politicians and real guardians of the nation. Sometimes, the comrade spirit among themselves can trigger the processes of the coup d’etats or bitter military interventions. However, whatever the reason is these military involvement in politics cannot be tolerated and permitted. So, democratic mechanisms must be well-designed, smoothly working and protected by the state actors in order to maintain the rule of the civilians in a country. The literature of civil-military relations serves us to deepen our notion to understand how military should act and limit its involvement in its intervention into politics in a country. Besisdes, this literature enables us to understand how civilians implement their supremacy over the military. This article aims to define to the civil-military relations theory and clarify its nature and also illustrate the dangers of the military’s tutelary power in a democratic country.

GEO-POLITICS, MILITARY RULE AND ISLAMIC EXTREMISM: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ZIA UL HAQ AND ZIA UR REHMAN REGIMES

Pakistan and Bangladesh have suffered a long way under the military rule where two military dictators—Zia ul Haq and Zia ur Rehman correspondingly, made the extensive use of Islam in the domain of politic, resulting into the Islamic extremism in these two countries. Bangladesh managed to overcome the issue of military involvement in politics and the corresponding Islamic extremism, Pakistan has become even more vulnerable to such undemocratic and extremist forces. This paper first briefly explores the regional and trans-regional factors involved in Islamization of these two countries. The resultant Islamic extremism in these two countries is then analyzed with the help of three major indicators: Islamization of Laws; growth of Madrassas and official patronage of the religious political parties by the two military dictators. Thus, this research is unique from the previous studies on two grounds: first it explores the interrelationship of geopolitics, military rule and Islamic extremism; second it analyzes variation in impacts of the Islamization policies in these two countries in the context of their distinct geographical settings and their corresponding importance for the big powers in diverse situations.

Back to basics: assessing military involvement in politics in contemporary Brazil

As Brazil showed signs of progress in civil-military relations in the late nineties and early 2000s, research moved from civilian control to defense policy topics, resulting in neglect of less obvious forms of military involvement in politics, which pre-date Bolsonaro. To support our claim, we begin by critically reviewing existing frameworks for assessing progress in civilian control and propose returning to the field’s primary concern with military intervention in politics by using three indicators - military presence in government; public commentary by military officers; and episodes of military contestation – and their implications regarding the armed forces, politicians, and society. Then, we make an account of instances of the three indicators during Dilma Rousseff’s and Michel Temer’s presidencies. We conclude that military involvement in politics in Brazil is a pervasive social phenomenon posing serious risks for democracy.

Back to basics: assessing military involvement in politics in contemporary Brazil

As Brazil showed signs of progress in civil-military relations in the late nineties and early 2000s, research moved from civilian control to defense policy topics, resulting in the neglect of less obvious forms of military involvement in politics, many of which pre-date the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. After critically reviewing existing frameworks for assessing progress in civilian control we propose returning to the field’s primary concern with military intervention in politics by using three indicators -military presence in government; public commentary by military officers; and episodes of military contestation –and their implications regarding the armed forces, politicians, and society. Next, we examine these three indicators in the context of the presidencies of Dilma Rousseff and Michel Temer. We conclude that interactions between “soldiers, politicians, and civilians” in recent episodes of military involvement in politics revealthe full extent of the frailty of civil-military relations in Brazil.

The Military in Politics and Democracy: Its Impact on Government Spending for Education and Health

ObjectiveThere is considerable debate over the determinants of government spending, but few studies have considered the impact of the military in politics. This article examines how the military in politics and democracy and the interaction between them might affect the allocation of government spending.MethodsI use a variety of econometric specifications, including pooled‐OLS, panel data with random effects and fixed effects estimation, and a panel data set of 129 countries from 1984 and 2013. Further, the SGMM estimator is used to check for robustness.ResultsThe empirical results show that the military in politics has a significant negative impact on education spending. The results also indicate that the interaction between the military in politics and democracy has a positive impact on government spending for education and health.ConclusionThe results suggest that policies to reduce military involvement in politics, combined with those to increase civilian control of the military, would have a considerable impact on social development.

Security Strategic Dimensions of the ‘Fast Track’ Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe: A Socio-Political Discourse

The article argues that the Fast Track Land Reform Programme should be viewed from a security and strategic perspective motivated by its historiographical heritage regarded as worthy of preservation. It has always been a sensitive issue so compelling that successive colonial administrations, setter regimes and governments were determined to utilize all their instruments of power to exert authority for its preservation and control. The Fast Track Land Reform Programme, like its predecessors was a clear expression of the close relationship between foreign, domestic and military policy in pursuit of national goals and values. The subtext of the article is the assertion of the principle of self-determination over the right of ownership of land on a people as expressed by the United Nations norms and values. The aim of the article is to interrogate the security and strategic dimension of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme. The article argues that the involvement of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces in the Fast Track Land Reform Programme must be understood and analysed from the long held Clauzewitzian philosophy of the crucial inter-relationship between; foreign, domestic, and military policy (Dimitriu, 2018). Four main areas are discussed: the historical land brutal military conquests through the foreign policy pronouncements at the 1884/5 Berlin conference; the United Nations Resolution on the colonised people and how the Lancaster House torpedoed the principle in 1979; the constitutional provisions and prescriptions on the repossession of land; the historical role of Armed Forces in supporting civilian authorities in the implementation of domestic and foreign policy objectives deemed to be of security and strategic nature by successive colonial and settler regimes in Zimbabwe. The major findings of the study provide the modern classical background theoretic, necessary principles that explain the legitimacy and rationale for the professional military involvement in politics of the day. The study concludes that the issue of land on a State or Nation is an emotive matter, which can easily be a source of conflict, if not addressed from a security and strategic perspective.

Dragutin Dimitrijević Apis kao simbol srpske strateške kulture

The paper is the analysis of the life and achievements of Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević Apis, an army and intelligence officer, who significantly influenced the history of Serbs at the beginning of the 20th century. The turbulent, almost adventurous, life of Colonel Apis ended with the rigged trial in Thessaloniki in 1917. From then until the present day, Apis is used as a symbol of the Serbian strategic culture for the military involvement in politics, but also as a patriotic and self-sacrificing officer dependent on the needs of the ruling elite and the facts which subculture analysts belong to. The aim of this paper is to analyze the achievements of Colonel Apis in an analytical and objective way, to describe different strategic subcultures in Serbia on the example of the attitude towards the symbol of Apis and to remove certain misconceptions about the (mis)use of Colonel Apis and his legacy.

Civil-Military Relations in Egypt since 2013

The military has been a powerful and active actor in Egyptian politics since Naser period. By the collapse of the Mobarak regime as a result of the popular demonstrations in 2011, hopes for democratization increased; however, the military coup against Morsi administration once again changed the balance in civil- military relations in favor of the military and led the military to become dominant actor in both Egyptian politics and economics. This article analyzes civil-military relations in Egypt since July 2013 and attempts to understand to what extent the military was empowered by the privileged rights in both politics and economics. Within that framework, given rights and power by the constitution to the military, gained privileged rights at the executive, legislative and judiciary levels, economic power and activities of the military, and its influence over media and civil society were examined. This article argues that on the one hand military has been certainly consolidating its dominancy in Egyptian politics and economics since 2013, on the other hand the military involvement in politics and economics has been deteriorating institutionalism and efficiency of the Army itself.

Beyond coups: terrorism and military involvement in politics

A wealth of research in comparative politics and international relations examines how the military intervenes in politics via coups. We shift attention to broader forms of military involvement in politics beyond coups and claim that terrorist violence and the threat of terror attacks provide a window of opportunity for military intervention, without taking full control of state institutions. We highlight two mechanisms through which terrorism influences military involvement in politics: (1) government authorities demand military expertise to fight terrorism and strengthen national security and “pull” the armed forces into politics, and (2) state armed actors exploit their informational advantage over civilian authorities to “push” their way into politics and policy-making. A panel data analysis shows that domestic terror attacks and perceived threats from domestic and transnational terrorist organizations increase military involvement in politics. We illustrate the theoretical mechanisms with the cases of France (1995–1998 and 2015–2016) and Algeria (1989–1992).

Rule of Law and Human Rights Challenges in South East Asia: A Case Study of Legal Pluralism in Indonesia

It has been over 72 years since Indonesia proclaimed her independence on 17 August 1945. However, the 350 years of the Dutch colonization is still impacting the lives of the Indonesian people. The difficulties faced by the Indonesian legal system as the government tries to accommodate adat (custom) and religion principles within the national law and the extent to which this legal mechanism affects the everyday life of the Indonesian people. In a nation where customs and religion are so preeminent, setting up an all-inclusive document meant to be the foundation of the state’s legal system at the dawn of independence was no easy task. This paper discusses the practice of legal pluralism in Indonesia and its struggle to implement rule of law and human rights principles after a half-century of authoritarian regimes. The study involves socio-legal research drawing on empirical data. Survey research was conducted between September 2014 and February 2015 at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, as well as in 5 cities in Indonesia (Aceh, Bali, Batam, Medan, and Padang) to collect data. The research reveals that legal pluralism is not helping to strengthen the Indonesian legal system, and that the foreignness of the Western law along with the neglect of the Indonesian customary and Islamic laws, totalitarianism and military involvement in politics, corruption within the state apparatus and unsynchronized laws weaken the legal system in Indonesia and hinder its effort to implement rule of law and human rights principles.

Rule of Law and Human Rights Challenges in South East Asia: A Case Study of Legal Pluralism in Indonesia

It has been over 70 years since Indonesia proclaimed her independence in August 1945. However, the 350 years of the Dutch colonialism is still impacting the lives of the Indonesian people. The difficulties faced by the Indonesian legal system as the government tries to accommodate adat (custom) and religious principles within the national law and the extent to which this legal mechanism affects the everyday life of the Indonesian people, from the legal perspective are the main issues this paper endeavors to deal with. Although a great majority of the Indonesian people rely on Islam and customs to go about their everyday problems, the 1945 Constitution (abbreviated as UUD’ 45) through its article 1 section 3 states that “Indonesia is a rule of law country”. However, room is also made through article 18b section 2 of the same constitution to grant certain recognition to religious law and customary law (referred to as adat law hereafter). In a nation where customs and religion are so preeminent, setting up an all-inclusive document meant to be the foundation of the state’s legal system at the dawn of independence was no easy task. Consequently, the 1945 Constitution of the then newly formed republic, through these two articles (article 1 sect. 3, and article 18b sect. 2) officially set the stage for a pluralistic legal system: one based on the Western legal tradition and the other driven by religious and adat principles -- the folk way. This study discusses the practice of legal pluralism and the rule of law in Indonesia, and thus involves socio-legal research drawing on empirical data. Survey research was conducted between September 2014 and February 2015 at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, as well as in 5 cities in Indonesia (Aceh, Bali, Batam, Medan, and Padang) to collect data. The research population consists of academics, adat community leaders, Parliament members, NGOs and students. The research reveals that legal pluralism is not helping strengthen the Indonesian legal system, and that the foreignness of the Western law along with the neglect of the Indonesian customary and Islamic laws, totalitarianism and military involvement in politics, corruption within the state apparatus and unsynchronized laws are some of the major threats to the rule of law and human rights (as specified in article 28 of the 1945 Constitution) in Indonesia.

Does Political and Economic Inequality Affect Institutional Quality?

We study how inequality, democracy and economic development affect institutions in a dynamic panel model using data for 78 countries from 1984 to 2006. We suggest a model that assumes the sluggish adjustment of institutional quality and the interplay between the key explanatory variables. We find that democracy has a non‐linear effect on government stability and military involvement in politics. This effect depends on inequality and GDP per capita. Inequality matters for law and order and has a non‐linear effect as well. However, the results for wealth effect are mixed.

Military and Politics: Understanding the Theoretical Underpinnings of Military Incursion in Third World Politics

The study is an attempt to explain the theoretical underpinnings of military involvement in Third World politics. It raised such pertinent questions as to why military rule occurred more in Less Developed Countries than in developed ones and why is direct military involvement in politics condemned globally even when some appeared to have fared better than the prevailing corrupt civilian administrations. These questions were clarified in a study that is basically qualitative in nature using various theories of military intervention in politics to argue that so long as Third World politicians remain intransigent to their societal problems, military involvement in politics will continue to be a phenomenon to be reckoned with notwithstanding that the involvement of the Armed Forces in political life of the people has not reflected any improvement in governance. The work concludes that it would be difficult for any military rule to perform better than civilian-led administrations being a body taught to fight and kill than to govern. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p2047

Military in politics and budgetary allocations

This paper investigates the effect of military involvement in politics on budgetary allocations for defence. We employ a variety of econometric models, including pooled OLS and panel data with fixed effects and control for other known determinants of military spending. To deal with endogeneity issues, we also use an IV methodology and find that a higher degree of military involvement in policy-making increases the probability that the military obtain a larger share of output.

Membangun Demokrasi melalui Profesionalisme Tentara Nasional Indonesia

Democratic development for more than 14 years was seen walking "back and forth", one reason is the slow process of the professionalism of the Indonesian National Army (TNI). In history, that the lack of military professionalism has resulted in the birth of military force against civilians, and military involvement in politics, it ultimately undermined democracy that aims to strengthen civil society. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the process of democratic development through the realization of military professionalism. The research method used was qualitative method through the use of primary data (observations and interviews) and secondary data (media and documents). Democratic development aims to generate social and political conditions better, one that supports that effort is the creation of military professionalism. But today, it is appeared several groups trying to restore military strength in practical politics. Based on the discussion, the writer concludes that efforts to build democracy in Indonesia met with resistance. This is due to the persistence of the effort to bring the military back into the world of practical politics.

Corruption and economic growth in some selected transitional economies

PurposeThe general objective of the paper is to investigate the impact of corruption and other institutional factors on economic growth in some selected transitional economies for the period of 1990‐2004 and make policy recommendations for combating it. Specifically, the study attempts to: assess whether corruption has any impact on the growth of the sample countries; examine whether simultaneous policy reform focussing on accountability and rule of law impact positively on growth of these economies; and investigate whether corruption in these countries exhibit the efficient grease syndrome.Design/methodology/approachThe indices for corruption and other institutional variables were drawn from International Country Risk Guide (ICRG – PRS) for the period of 1990‐2004, the polity data were obtained from the Polity IV, while the real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth were obtained from the Penn World 6.2. The study covered the period between 1990 and 2004 that coincides with the real transition of these economies from centrally planned to market economies. It adopts the panel data framework, the fixed effect, the random effect and the maximum likelihood estimation techniques for the analysis.FindingsThe study's findings support Mauro's hypothesis that corruption has a negative impact on the economies. However, the study cannot find a robust statistical evidence to support the efficient grease hypothesis of Leff and Huntington.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper recommends policy efforts that would strengthen accountability and bureaucratic quality, reduce discretionary power, ethnic fractionalisation and military involvement in politics with a view to enhancing social responsibility practices at both micro and macro levels.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies that focussed on single cross‐country regression with an assumption of identical aggregate production function for all countries, this study adopts the panel data framework that makes it possible to allow for differences in the form of unobservable individual country effects. The paper employs the fixed effect, the random effect and the maximum likelihood estimation techniques.

The Anatomy of Military Interventions in Asia

This article looks at the recent military intervention in the politics of Bangladesh—within the broader framework of the military's role in the politics of Asian countries, as it evolved in different stages and patterns over the years—identifies its main characteristics and prognosticates their implications on the future political developments in the country. The main hypothesis is that a new pattern of military involvement in politics is emerging in countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, which we will call ‘power without responsibility’, a trend that bodes ill for democratic developments in both the countries. In the current situation in Bangladesh, the military intervened, no doubt, to correct the mess, to use army language, not directly but indirectly by propping up their cohorts in the form of a caretaker government, where the policy directions and actions of the new government were determined essentially by the armed forces. Bangladesh military is fast imitating the Pakistani model, albeit in a different form, to place itself as an arbiter in each and every aspect of social, political and economic life of the country. Like in Pakistan, the Bangladesh army does not necessarily have to come directly into power. It can wield effective power and influence even while remaining in the background and, yet, constantly destabilize politics and deprive the democratic forces the necessary political space. The caretaker government remained in power by courtesy of the military and ruled at its bidding. If at all the current experiment of social and political engineering by the Bangladesh military succeeds, though doubtful, it can always take the credit for cleaning up the mess in the politics of the country and filling in the democracy deficit that the country is facing today. The responsibility for the failure can always be passed on to the caretaker government whose civilian façade has been kept deliberately to confuse and hoodwink the domestic constituency and the international community. So, a new model of military intervention in politics—rule without responsibility and accountability—has emerged in Pakistan and Bangladesh, which obviously has both long- and short-term implications for political developments in Third World countries and, thus, requires closer scrutiny and analysis.