Strategic culture as a framework for studying civil-military relations

Abstract

Classic theory of civil-military relations was mostly limited to empirical-descriptive studies, while theoretical starting point of such studies was rudimentary. The end of the Cold War brought about new challenges and questions, causing the need for theoretic grounds and expansion of research agenda of civil-military relations. Consequently, the subject of this paper encompasses the overview of the evolution of the theoretical framework and research agenda of civil-military relations, starting from the classical theory towards theoretical paradigms of the constructivists. The primary objective of the paper is to establish theoretical grounds of civil-military relations on the principles of Constructivism and strategic culture, as a fruitful analytical framework for the study of those relations as a dependent variable. In this paper, the method used is the overview of academic literature to achieve a systematic insight into relevant theoretical positions of the author which thematise strategic culture and civil-military relations on the principles of Constructivism. Two basic perspectives of strategic culture study have been singled out that determine the way of shaping those relations as a dependent variable. In concrete terms, civil-military relations can be analysed as a product of unique ideational elements of national culture, tradition and history of a nation, and as a product of discursive practices of political and military elites. Overall, the study of strategic culture enables overcoming anachronistic perspective of civil-military relations, offering and innovative theoretical and analytical framework that enables opening research agenda for new questions and subjects.