Civil-Military 'Legal' Relations: Where to from Here?

Civil-military relations establishes the civilian control over the military to protect democratic values. This book argues analysis of the CMR is distorted by the absence of consideration of the judicial arm, with the ‘civil’ seen as referring only to the executive and/or legislature. The civil courts approach to military discipline and the impact that has for CMR within — the United Kingdom, United States and Australia is investigated. The author concludes that by including the courts in the development of CMR theory militarisation of the civilian domain is discouraged. A paradigm shift acknowledging the fundamental role of all three organs of government in liberal democracies, for control of States’ power is essential for genuine civilian oversight.

Pauline Therese Collins, Ph.D (2014), University of Queensland, is Associate Professor at the University of Southern Queensland. She has published on international law and private military companies, including in Military Justice in the Modern Age (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

"Dr Collins’ book presents to readers very solid scholarship that displays the author’s clear-headed exegesis of the relevant statutory instruments and conventions, along with a precise knowledge of the field of military law across three complicated (if not dissimilar) legal jurisdictions. The work contains a vast array of relevant references, sources and cases. It is conscientiously prepared and beautifully edited. With apologies to those who may consider this next phrase as almost inevitable and trite, this book is essential reading for scholars of jurisprudential theory and those who have responsibility for or interest in the carriage of military instruments of justice."
Rick Sarre, Dean of Law and Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the University of South Australia, University of Tasmania Law Review, Vol. 38(1) 2019 (pages 134-137).