The central argument of this essay is that the military has played significant political roles in societies in transition, and even in firmly established democracies it may have an impact on how the system operates. The non-military roles they adopted were not simply based on the military’s political inclinations, but equally on the conduct of civilian elites. But this role is diminishing at all levels of political culture; and this is particularly evident in societies previously most exposed to higher levels of military intervention.
