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The Military and Society in Turkey: Prospects for Change and Lessons for Pakistan

. Dr. Sadia Mahmood Falki & Dr. Aisha Shahzad


Abstract

The democratic setup in any country requires the supremacy of elected and representative state institutions in the affair of governance. However, military as a non-representative state institution cannot be excluded from certain areas of decision making largely pertaining to the defense, where they have reasonable assertions of expertise. Although in democratic states, range and discourse of military remains subject to the civilian oversight, national narratives primarily advocate guardian approach of military in transitional societies like Turkey and Pakistan. The level of trust among these societies towards their armed forces instead of political class makes military substantially persuasive in politics. The Turkish and Pakistani case studies manifest that in political systems where society has a strong bond with its armed forces, military interventions are less likely to face resistance. The responses of Turkish society to the military coup of 2016 provided that societal support is one of the key determinants of manifestation of civil-military relations. The changed pattern of Turkish society in favor of its political class gradually consolidated democracy while compelling Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) to accept this paradigm shift. This also provides similar parameters with few exceptions to analyze the role of Pakistani society for glorifying the status of army by endorsing national narratives and prospects of continuity or change of civil-military relations. This research assumes that change into societal approach towards military in Pakistan can also lead towards consolidation of democracy. The balanced civil-military relations can be built in transitional societies with the help of the dynamic support of society towards representative institutions and political class.  

 

Keywords: Turkey, Pakistan, Civil-military Relations, Society, Democracy, Intervention

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