Every year, the US Department of Defense allocates more than $400 billion to for-profit firms. Which raises the question: Where does the money go? Thomas Bruneau takes a deep dive into the murky waters of national defense outsourcing to answer that question. Moving beyond the issue of private military contractors, Bruneau investigates the scope, legality, and implications of the private sector's vast involvement in securing the nation.
This essay reviews the following works:Ensaios de grande estratégia brasileira. By João Paulo S. Alsina Jr. Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV, 2018. Pp. 291. Reais 43.00 paperback. ISBN: 9788522520619. Politics in Uniform: Military Officers and Dictatorship in Brazil, 1960–1980. By Maud Chirio. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018. Pp. xii + 280. $28.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822965374. Soldiers of the Nation: Military Service and Modern Puerto Rico, 1868–1952. By Harry Franqui-Rivera. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018. Pp. xiii + 342. $60.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780803278677. Fuerzas armadas, pretorianismo y calidad de la democracia: Ecuador y Uruguay. By Patricio Haro Ayerve. Quito: FLACSO, 2017. Pp. xix + 307. $18.00. ISBN: 9789978674789. Brazil, 1964–1985: The Military Regimes of Latin America in the Cold War. By Herbert S. Klein and Francisco Vidal Luna. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017. Pp. xiii+ 216. $40.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780300223316. Debating Civil-Military Relations in Latin America. Edited by David R. Mares and Rafael Martínez. Eastbourne, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2014. Pp. xii + 224. $69.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9781845195915. Military Missions in Democratic Latin America. By David Pion-Berlin. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Pp. xiii + 218. $119.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781137592699. Soldiers, Politicians, and Civilians: Reforming Civil-Military Relations in Democratic Latin America. By David Pion-Berlin and Rafael Martínez. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp. i + 414. $32.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781316604434.
Perry Center Occasional Paper, March 2020 ; This paper utilizes a framework we have developed to analyze civil-military relations in terms of both democratic civilian control and effectiveness. As the achievement of effectiveness only makes sense in terms of the roles and missions actually implemented by the security forces in a country, the roles and missions will be spelled out. The focus in this paper will be on comparative analysis of four countries that the author finds to be relatively successful in achieving both democratic civilian control and ef- fectiveness. Since few roles and missions can be proven to be successful, the author believes the focus must necessarily be on three essential elements for effectiveness. Consequently, the implementation of a military strategy or policy requires an analysis as to whether or not these essential elements are present. In view of the difficulty in defining, and even more so in measuring outcomes in military roles and missions, the author's analytical framework focuses on essential elements; that which is necessary, if not sufficient for effectiveness. That is, to posit (based on research and discussions with other researchers as well as civilian officials and military officers) what is necessary for the military to be under democratic civilian control and be effective in the specific roles or missions that it is directed to achieve. The author has studied in some depth through interviews in approximately twenty countries on four continents, and another twenty through secondary sources, and finds in Chile, Colombia, Portu- gal, and since early 2018 in the United States a relatively high degree of harmony between democratic civilian control and military effectiveness. While the four countries are indeed very different in size, resources base, democratic consolidation, threats, etc. the author feels there is something to be learned from their experiences in achieving democratic civilian control and military effectiveness. While there is a rich literature on countries' progress in achieving, or not, democratic civilian control, there is very little on achieving military effectiveness.
The doyen of democratization studies and American policies in support of democratization globally, Professor Larry Diamond, recently published an article in The American Interest with the title "The Liberal Democratic Order in Crisis" in which the header correctly states the main message of the article. "We are at a tipping point. Around the world, many democracies are hanging by a threat and autocrats are preparing more savage assaults on what remains of freedom." The focus in this chapter is on Brazil, and mainly on how democratic politics ironically has led to vast improvements in accountability mechanisms while leading to regression in civil – military relations. It is important to emphasize from the beginning of this chapter that the regression in civil-military relations, with implications for democracy, is due mainly to the dynamics of democratic politics and not the supposed nefarious plans and plots of the Brazilian Armed Forces
The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1080/14751798.2018.1529085 ; The article argues that current conceptual approaches in civil-military relations are deeply flawed resulting in its irrelevance in analyzing major issues including war and the collapse of democracy. After highlighting major flaws in the work of the late Samuel Huntington and those who follow his approach, the article argues that other conceptual approaches, including Security Sector Reform, are also flawed, or in the case of the "military effectiveness" literature, largely irrelevant. In explaining the main causes of the flawed conceptual literature, the article highlights the absence of good data and challenges in methodology. While arguing that military forces are very unlikely to engage in armed combat, it highlights the roles and missions which in the world today are implanted by these forces. As it is virtually impossible to prove effectiveness of the armed forces in these roles and missions, the article proposes a conceptual approach based on requirements.
