Open AccessQUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES? CIVILIAN CONTROL OVER THE MILITARY
Author(s) -
Besley Timothy,
Robinson James A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of the european economic association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.792
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1542-4774
pISSN - 1542-4766
DOI - 10.1111/j.1542-4774.2010.tb00535.x
Subject(s) - control (management) , political science , law and economics , law , management , economics
The question of who guards the guards is intimately connected with broader questions of state capacity and the establishment of a monopoly of violence in society, something which is often viewed as the defining feature of the modern state. But to establish such a monopoly, civilian rulers need not only to build an effective military, but also to control it. In this paper we study how governments may solve this problem when they recognize that their decisions to build a strong army may have ramifications for subsequent coups. (JEL: H11, H56)