ABSTRACT
Military power is the legally sanctioned instrument of violence which governments use in their relations with each other, and in an internal-security role. Japan is sometimes cited as the new model of how materialistic, growth-orientated states can achieve prosperity without military strength. The problem of reconciling or striking a balance between the need to concentrate military power in the hands of a few and the need to preserve democratic values is a fundamental one for any democratic state. The political control of the military is almost taken for granted in the United Kingdom where there is a long tradition of political neutrality in the armed services, and where the threat of military rule is quite unreal. Many of the critics of military power have emphasised the uselessness of weapons of mass destruction for all practical purposes. The declining utility of military power in its traditional functions may reflect the manifestly diminished interest which western states have in foreign affairs generally..
