Reimagining Civil-Military Relations from a Quadrumvirate Interaction Perspective

The discipline of civil-military relations has produced a wealth of knowledge and theories about the relationship between the military and the state. However, these theories have been criticized for failing to fully account for the complex interaction between these two partners. This manuscript acknowledges the institutional and cultural explanations of extant theories, but highlights their weaknesses. It then advances the recognition of the autonomy and agency of the citizenry in civil-military relations. It identifies the various ways citizens exert agency, including the use of violence, which has not received attention despite the increasing experience from accounts of civil-military relations in Africa. The chapter then reimagines civil-military relations from the lens of a quadrumvirate interaction explanation, which incorporates both institutional and socio-cultural aspects, as well as micro-level realities.