The absence of subjective civilian control over the military in communist Cuba, China, and Poland

Abstract

In the study of civil-military relations one of the most widely known concepts, of the various means of civilian control over the military, is Huntington's notion of Subjective Civilian Control. This occurs when the power of a civilian group in society is maximised in relation to the power of the military. The type of state seen to most exemplify this concept is the Communist state. It is argued by many civil-military theorists that, within these states, the Party has created an array of controls over the military that seem to secure Subjective Civilian Control. However, this thesis argues that there have been occasions when a Communist military has not been subject to institutional control by the Party, and therefore, has not been subject to Subjective Civilian Control. In fact, the three Communist states discussed in this thesis have experienced periods of military rule, which is a clear indication of the absence of Party control, or any other form of Subjective Civilian Control during these periods. These three examples - Communist Cuba, China and Poland - are utilised as case-studies, respectively in Chapters Two, Three and Four, not only to provide evidence for the thesis' main argument, but also to illustrate that the ways in which Subjective Civilian Control fails varies between the various states. The thesis therefore also draws comparisons and contrasts from the three case-studies, with Chapter Five largely devoted to illustrating these comparisons and contrasts. This chapter also brings to the fore - and operates within - Finer's framework for analysing types of military rule. For, in examining the three case-studies, it was found that a comprehensive definition and analysis of 'military rule' was necessary in order to cope with the complexities of the case-studies. Several other problems, which arose in operationalising the thesis, are returned to in the Conclusion. The thesis ends with a survey of those topics, arising from the thesis, which are worthy of further study.