CIAO DATE: 03/04

Democratic Oversight of the Security Sector. What Does it Mean?

Abstract

Democracy always implicitly presumes unlimited civilian supremacy over the command of the armed forces—anything short of that defines an incomplete democracy. But what exactly is democratic oversight, and how can we conceptualise it? Generally speaking, we see a state's system of democratic oversight as being a product of its system of government, politics, history and culture. Aditionally, as there are many different cultures and political systems, many different norms and practices of democratic oversight also exist. Consequently, and for better or worse, there is no single, definitive normative model for democratic oversight. At least several models are present, some of which appear to contradict others. Keeping this in mind, the main question of this chapter is 'how can democratic oversight be conceptualised?' The following questions relating to the issue will be addressed:

1. Why is democratic oversight currently becoming an issue of political relevance?
2. What is democratic oversight?
3. The democratic oversight of what?
4. Who carries out democratic oversight?
5. How can democratic oversight be achieved?
6. Recap: what is the essence of contemporary democratic oversight?

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