Bloomsbury Security Challenges and Military Politics in East Asia: From State Building to Post-democratization

This comparative work examines the political role played by armed forces in South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. The work brings together theory and empirical study, analyzing how security threats have shaped the military's organization, doctrine, and domestic political role at various stages of political development, from the state-building period to today's post-democratization era. Using four representative case studies, Woo sets to answer: What determines the armed forces' political influence? How does it affect political development? How do democratically elected leaders establish civilian control over them? The book first looks at how security threats led to military expansion and authoritarianism at the onset of the Cold War. Next, it examines military dictatorial rule, followed by a study of the military's withdrawal process during democratization. Lastly, it focuses on contemporary civil-military dynamics in the four countries, discussing the obstacles faced by civilian authority and what maybe the most desirable model for civil-military relations in post-democratization Asian societies. "Security Challenges and Military Politics in East Asia" will be an essential resource for anyone studying Asian political development, civil-military relations, and comparative democratization. Review "In this thoughtful and meticulously researched book Professor Woo systematically compares civil-military relations in four important Asian states and explains why some succeed in democratizing while others come up short. Professor Woo uses extant theories and adds his own theoretical insights to explain how threats against the state originating in the domestic and/or international arenas affect the relationship between states and their armed forces. This is an excellent work of comparative politics and international relations and a long-awaited corrective of the conventional views on Asian security relations." -- Zoltan Barany, Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Professor of Government, University of Texas"This book is an essential text for both students and scholars of civil-military relations. Woo's analysis of four key cases in East Asia- South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia-demonstrates that the role of the military is affected not only by the internal and external security environment, but also deeply influenced by economic variables and overall regime performance. The case studies are impressively grounded in a theoretical framework supported by extensive empirical research. A timely work in an era where many states struggle to consolidate democracy and secure civilian control of the military, Woo's book is a valuable contribution to both security studies and comparative politics." -M. Scott Solomon, University of South Florida"This book seeks to explain military politics in four democratizing countries in East Asia. It argues that the level of security threat combined with three intervening variables--strength of civilian leadership, military cohesiveness, and strength and orientation of civil society-explains changes in military participation in the politics of these countries since their inception as modern states. Security Challenges and Military Politics in East Asia is an important contribution to the study of civil-military relations and a welcome addition to the rather thin theoretically oriented literature on civil-military relations in Asia." - Muthiah Alagappa, Distinguished Senior Fellow, East-West Center About the Author Jongseok Woo is Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at the University of West Florida. Professor Woo's research interests focus on the military in politics, democratization in comparative perspective and the politics of East Asia. He has published several articles in journals (Journal of Democracy, Journal of Asian and African Studies; Armed Forces and Society); and was awarded a grant by the Korean Studies Scholarship to re