ABSTRACT
This chapter is a critical discourse on the applicability of the classical theory and practice of civil-military relations to societies undergoing transition, conflict and trauma. An attempt is therefore made to assess how far (well-established) standards, models and recipes can facilitate democratisation processes, especially when it comes to war-torn societies. The starting premise is that the paradigm of interethnic conflict alone is insufficient to explain the specific shape of civil-military relations. As the Macedonian case illustrates, criminality has its own share in the vicious circle of violence and destabilisation. At the end of the day, application of models of democratic control of armed forces on corrupted and even belligerent political elites and largely ‘privatised’ armed structures calls for a serious reconsideration and revision of the basic concept.
