The British Armed Forces and Politics: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Relations between the armed forces & civil institutions in the UK have been the subject of increased concern in the past decade. One reason has been the army's direct involvement in Ulster since 1969. The various questions of civil-military relations thus raised are explored not only on the...
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| Published in: | Armed forces and society 1977-07, Vol.3 (4), p.531-556 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Relations between the armed forces & civil institutions in the UK have been the subject of increased concern in the past decade. One reason has been the army's direct involvement in Ulster since 1969. The various questions of civil-military relations thus raised are explored not only on the basis of contemporary sources, but also against a background analysis of the historical evolution of civil-military relations in the UK over three centuries. In the seventeenth century, as subsequently, different conceptions of the role of the military were crucial to the evolution of the whole political system. Public attitudes developed which influenced policy for a long period: opposition to standing armies, to direct military rule, & to internal policing by the army. Such ideas affected the emergence & structure of such modern institutions as the police & the professional army. Some of the main problems of civil-military relations in the twentieth century include: (1) obedience to government orders (Chanak, Curragh), (2) involvement in industrial conflicts (General Strike 1926), (3) torture of prisoners (Aden, Ulster), & (4) a possible military coup. While the army's current philosophy of its own role has many disturbing aspects, & while the army had, by 1975, become heavily involved in internal affairs, there is no serious prospect of a coup or of a direct military involvement in political decision-making. AA. |
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| ISSN: | 0095-327X 1556-0848 |