ABSTRACT
Politically the armed forces suffer from two crippling weaknesses. One is the armed forces' technical inability to administer any but the most primitive community and second is their lack of legitimacy: that is to say, their lack of a moral title to rule. The more primitive the economy, the easier it is for the armed forces to administer it by purely military men and measures. Modern armies are a microcosm of the state; they possess their own separate and self-contained systems of provisioning, supply, engineering, communications, even of education. Rule by force alone, or the threat of such force, is inadequate; in addition, government must possess authority. It must be widely recognized not only as the government but as the lawful, the rightful government. A government that based its rule on the fact that it was materially stronger than any other force or forces in society would prove both shortlived and ineffective.
