Civil-military Relationship by Jonatan Rudolph

Author:Jonatan Rudolph [Rudolph, Jonatan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alpha Editions
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

10

Civil-Military Relations in China

Comparative Civil-Military Relations

PLA scholars have made only limited use of the wide and varied comparative literature on civil-military relations. Most comparative work done on the PLA has been limited to the work that has come out of the Soviet Union, namely that of Kolkowicz, Odom, Colton, and Perlmutter and LeoGrande. The work of these scholars has certainly informed and enlivened the debate on issues such as professionalism and symbiosis, as Leninist regimes such as the PRC and the Soviet Union share many characteristics in common.

However, PLA scholars should not excessively rely on the Soviet case for comparative purposes. The early histories of the Soviet army and the PLA are very different. Many of the recent professional features of the PLA have been present in the Red Army for over 60 years.

We, therefore, need to be aware of the possible differences between old, established professionalism and recent professionalization in comparing the role of the military in security policy in the Soviet Union and the PRC. Moreover, the Soviet models currently being used by PLA scholars are from the pre-reform Soviet Union. As in China, economic reforms under Gorbachev unleashed a variety of social, political, and economic forces that have had an important impact on the military. Looking at the literature on civil-military relations under the Gorbachev reforms may give us new insights into how the wider reforms in China are affecting the PLA and perceptions of its role in the Chinese political system.

Some writers, such as David Segal, Walter Bacon, and Robin Remington, have suggested that there is probably more similarity among those Communist states that experienced a guerrilla war than there are between guerrilla-origins militaries and the Soviet Union. PLA scholars are very much aware of the legacies of the PLA’s early years and how they continue to affect the development of the PLA and civil-military relations. Yet little comparative work has been done on communist guerrilla armies or how they have managed the transition to modernized armed forces.

In terms of understanding where Chinese civil-military relations might be headed, there is a growing literature on professionalization and political transition in former Leninist regimes. Zoltan Barany’s work, for example, indicates that transformation to state-oriented professionalized armies in the former communist states of Eastern Europe is anything but a straightforward process, and that military elites in many of these regimes have resisted depoliticization.

Indeed, Leninist and post-Leninist regimes represent a wide spectrum of political outcomes, ranging from apolitical, professional, modern armed forces to praetorian militias. Understanding how the same regime type, Leninism, could produce so many different outcomes will help us understand better the processes taking place in Chinese civil-military relations and the Chinese political system.

There is also a considerable amount of literature on civil-military relations on non-Leninist one-party states. Taiwan is one area that should be explored more. The GMD has been essentially a Leninist party without Leninism, and there are several recent and very good studies of the military in Taiwan. A somewhat different case is

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