Friend of the Strauss Center, Zoltan Barany, recently published a seminal work on civil-military relations around the world; The Soldier and the Changing State: Building Democratic Armies in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Inspired by the effects of the U.S. decision to disband the Iraqi army, Barany examines the role of the military in democratizing and changing states. He argues that the military is the most important state institution because democracy cannot be consolidated if military elites do not support democracy. He supports this argument by looking at the army-building and democratization experiences of twenty-seven countries. This book is a must read for anyone interested in civil-military relations or democratization.

Zoltan Barany is the Frank C. Erwin, Jr., Centennial Professor of Government at the University of Texas and the author of Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military (Princeton)

You can read the book’s introduction on the book’s Princton Press website – http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9903.html#reviews