The Military and the Consolidation of Democracy: The Recent 1\irkish Experience METIN HEPER AND AYLIN GUNEY T he significant differences among regions and even countries about the relations between governments and militaries make it impossible to develop an overarching theory of civil-military relations and the prospects for the consolidation of democracy. Prior to the transition to democracy, officers in Latin America functioned as political elites and exercised power in their own right; in contrast, officers in Eastern Europe were coopted by the communist parties and subjected to intense political indoctrination. Consequently, while in Latin America the consolidation of democracy required the demilitarization of politics, in Eastern Europe it required the depoliticization ofthe military.' In Latin America, at the time of the transition to democracy the military retained too many privileges.^ Thus politicians in that continent wished to have greater say about the resources previously controlled by the military so that they could pursue client-oriented policies to gamer votes,^ and they removed officers from state economic enterprises and allocated more funds to civilian ministries.'* In Eastern Europe, because the military had earlier come under the domination of communist parties, the depoliticization ofthe military by the political elite became critical. The best example here is Hungary, where Western democratic values have been quite successfully inculcated in the military.' Turkey constitutes yet another case of civil-military relations that resemble the civil-military relations in Germany between the two World
Consolidation of a democracy requires the establishment of a balance between the horizontal and vertical dimensions of democracy, that is, between participation and responsible leadership. The balance in question necessitates a harmonious relationship between the state and civil society. A too strong state as well as a too weak one poses difficulties for a viable democracy to flourish. This article elaborates this view by a comparison of the fortunes of democracy in Turkey and Germany. Both countries have had strong states. In Turkey, however, the state had been stronger than the state in Germany, and, as compared to the Germans, the Turks found it more difficult to consolidate their democracies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.