Definition, diagnosis, therapy: A civil-military critique
For more than two generations, civil–military relations has been an arena with very little autonomous theoretical development – if by theory we mean explanation based on tests of hypotheses. Since formative concepts were offered by Samuel Huntington, Morris Janowitz, and Samuel Finer, configurative descriptions and historical summaries have prevailed. While the role of “threat” has been examined, wider issues of national security competence have been explored, and some ideas such as that of a “civil army” have been introduced, we can count on the fingers of one hand the number of scholars who have written about civil–military relations qua theory. Yet, if we define conservaDefense & Security Analysis Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 157–170, 2002
Beyond the fallacy of coup-ism: conceptualizing civilian control of the military in emerging democracies
It is consensus in the democratization literature that civilian control of the military is a necessary ingredient for democracy and democratic consolidation. However, there is considerable disagreement on what civilian control of the military exactly entails and there is a lack of solid theoretical arguments for how weak or absent civilian control affects democratic governance. Furthermore, a considerable portion of the research literature is captured by the fallacy of coup-ism, ignoring the many other forms in which military officers can constrain the authority of democratically elected political leaders to make political decisions and get them implemented. This article addresses these lacunae by providing a new conceptual framework for the analysis of civil–military relations in emerging democracies. From democracy theory it derives a definition of civilian control as a certain distribution of decision-making power between civilian leaders and military officers. Based on this definition, the authors develop a five-dimensional concept of civilian control, discuss the effects of weakly institutionalized civilian control on the quality of democracy and address the chances for democratic consolidation.
Novel method for the determination of the methoxyl content in lignin by headspace gas chromatography.
The paper reports on a headspace gas chromatographic (HS-GC) method for the determination of methoxyl in lignin. The method involves the quantitive cleavage of methoxyl with hydroiodic acid (HI) to form methyl iodide in a closed headspace sample vial at 130 °C for 30 min. After HI has been added, the sample is neutralized by injecting a sodium hydroxide solution; the methyl iodide in the vial was determined by HS-GC using a flame ionization detector. The results showed that the method has an excellent measurement precision (RSD < 0.69%) and accuracy (RSD < 3.5%) for the quantification of methoxyl content in lignin. The present method is simple and accurate and can be used for the efficient determination of methoxy1 content in lignin and related materials.