CivilMilitary Relations In Southeast Asia

This course examines the military's role in state and society, focusing on the political role of the armed forces in Southeast Asia. We will examine important issues in the study of civil-military relations, such as (1) why is civilian control of the military important, (2) what causes the military offi cers' intervention and political domination via the coup d'etat, (3) what is the armed forces' role in political development and decay in non-Western societies, and (4) what is the most desirable civil-military relations in post-democratization political settings. The class begins with the survey on classical literature on civil-military relations, comparative politics and then, investigates civil-military relations of individual countries in Southeast Asia, namely, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.