Commonalities and Constraints in Defence Governance and Management

It has been argued that the armed forces have an inherent ‘need to be different’ (Dandeker and Freedman 2002: 465). This need stems from the basic fact that soldiers, sailors and airmen are willing to forfeit that most fundamental of human rights: the right to life. In many countries around the world, in democracies and authoritarian regimes, this need to be different has given rise to a perceived right: the right of the military, as an institution, to be immune from wider political pressures to ensure good governance.