This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to field of civil-military relations.


Civil-military relations is a challenging, and increasingly, topical subject of study. Exactly how civil and military actors relate affects how states apply the use of force in domestic and international affairs. This textbook provides an overview of the theories and politics of civil-military relations and is split into five parts:








Part I: Armed Forces and the State







Part II: Theories of Civil-Military Relations







Part III: Socio-Cultural Understandings of Civil-Military Relations







Part IV: Civil Military Relations in Practice







Part V: Civil-Military Relations in the Age of Risk.





The work introduces the historical and conceptual relationship between the armed forces and the state, the evolution and the range of theories of civil-military relations, the socio-cultural aspects of the civil-military relationship and how civil-military relations is practised in a variety of states.


This textbook will be essential reading for students of Civil-Military Relations and Military Studies, and of great interest to students of Sociology, Defence Studies, International Security, and IR in general.