The Military Transition
Democratic Reform of the Armed Forces

Narcís Serra, former Spanish Minister of Defence, explains the process and conditions necessary for successful democratic military reform.

Narcís Serra (Author), Peter Bush (Translated by)

9780521133449, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 February 2010

270 pages, 8 b/w illus. 1 table
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.44 kg

'Serra's The Military Transition has a triple distinction. First, Serra was by far the best Minister of Defense in any of the more than thirty democratic transitions in the last quarter of the twentieth century. This book is a brilliant analysis of the policies he crafted and implemented. Second, Serra has a profound grasp of the comparative literature on modern democratic civil-military relations which he reflects upon and deepens. Thirdly, he is the major theoretician of our time about the need to integrate, while democratically controlling, the new European-wide Human Security services, not only within the military but within the police and intelligence.' Alfred Stepan, Columbia University and co-author of Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation

Civilian control of the armed forces is crucial for any country hoping to achieve a successful democratic transition. In this remarkable book, Narcís Serra, Spanish Minister of Defence between 1982 and 1991, explains the steps necessary to reduce the powers of armed forces during the process of a democratic transition. Spain's military reform proved a fundamental and necessary element for the consolidation of Spanish democracy and is often viewed as a paradigm case for the transition to democracy. Drawing on this example, Serra outlines a simple model of the process and conditions necessary to any democratic military reform. He argues that progress in military transition must include legal and institutional reforms, changes to the military career structure and doctrine, and control of conflict levels.

Introduction
1. The study of the transition to democracy
2. Democratic transition and the armed forces: military autonomy
3. What is military reform?
4. The component parts of military reform
5. Transition and military reform in Spain
6. Consolidation and military reform in Spain
7. Controlling the armed forces in the stage of democratic persistence: the debate in the United States over the last ten years
8. Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Military tactics [JWKT], Political structures: democracy [JPHV], Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], Sociology [JHB], Military history [HBW]