provision of a large standing army to protect against French invasion than with
the provision of a navy which had little obvious purpose.
Militaristic societies are likely to spread some degree of military activity
widely among the civilian population; men will eagerly join volunteer military
units and enjoy being seen training at weekends; rifle clubs will flourish; youth
organizations will stress drills as much as hobbies; and anyone who can, will
wear a uniform whenever possible. The military will provide spectacles—
parades and tattoos will be highly popular entertainments. In fact, in such a
context, as was true of Germany before the First World War, there may be
more pressure from civilian support leagues for the military than even the
military want, and certainly more than the government, which must also fund
other less popular expenditures, can easily afford. Inevitably, militaristic
societies are more likely to engage in war than those of more pacifistic or
civilian temperament, but as much by accident as by design.
Military
As a noun, ‘The Military’ refers to the whole organization of defensive and
offensive armed force in a society. Its typical political use is in some compound,
such as the military-industrial complex, where it means the armed forces,
weapons manufacturers and the civil service and political direction of them.
The main point of describing this unitary element, in political analysis, is to
suggest that they occupy a special set of homogeneous related interests opposed
to the civil interests of the society, and, in most societies, an illegitimate set of
interests, or an illegitimate use of power and influence in their pursuit. It is
worth noting that the word almost never carries, in modern usage, the
technical original meaning which related to land rather than sea forces (see
alsoarmies). Military is not distinct from Naval or Air, but rather includes all
three branches of the modern armed forces. As such it obscures vital historical
and political differences in most countries, producing a false sense of the
uniformity of these aspects of social organization.
Military Regimes
Military regimes are usually autocratic governments where the military
controls the country’s political system—usually following acoup d’e ́tat. In
military regimes thecivil libertiesof citizens, and normal political and
constitutional arrangements, may be suspended. Thus, it is unlikely that
opposition parties will be allowed to operate freely in a military regime.
Although military regimes are frequently dictatorial it is not necessarily the
case that they will betotalitarian. If they occur because of a national crisis or
political emergency (seeemergency powers) such regimes may have a degree
Military