ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the analyst and policymaker with a different situation. The Party has satisfied the military's interests by permitting the miltary to solve its own internal problems, by allowing it to participate in the decision-making process, by providing expert advice, and by adopting internal and external goals the military generally agrees with. Most studies of military politics in the Middle East, for example, even if they focus on only one country, generally relate that experience to other Middle Eastern states. The choice of a conceptual framework for analyzing civil-military relations in Communist systems is of vital interest not only to academics, but also to policymakers. Conflict is largely intra-institutional, the lower levels of bureaucracy against the higher levels. Moreover, on major policy issues, the military is unlikely to express a single corporate view.
