Civilian control of the military  From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search  Civilian control of
the military is a doctrine in military and political science
that places ultimate responsibility for a country's strategic
decision-making in the hands of the civilian political
leadership, rather than professional military officers. The de
facto opposite of having civilian control of the military is a
military dictatorship. A lack of control over the military may
result in a state within a state. One author, paraphrasing
Samuel P. Huntington's writings in The Soldier and the State,
has summarized the civilian control ideal as "the proper
subordination of a competent, professional military to the ends
of policy as determined by civilian authority".[1]  Civilian
control is often seen as a prerequisite feature of a stable,
liberal democracy. Use of the term in scholarly analyses tends
to take place in the context of a democracy governed by elected
officials, though the subordination of the mi