Civil-Military Relations in Taiwan

Dean Karalekas is the co-founder and Associate Editor of Strategic Vision for Taiwan Security, published by the Taiwan Center for Security Studies and the Republic of China’s National Defense University. His research focuses on civil–military relations, self-identification, Taiwan studies, and emergency and disaster management. He spent several years as a journalist, educator, and immigration consultant in East Asia, and received his PhD in Asia-Pacific Studies from the National Chengchi University, Taiwan.

• Introduction: The Armed Forces of the Republic of China (ROC)1. Moskos’s Postmodern Military Model2. Ethnic Self-Identification3. Threat Perception in Taiwan4. Force Structure & Conscientious Objectors5. Major Mission Definition6. Dominant Military Professional & Civilian Employees7. Spouses and the Military Community8. Women and the Military9. Homosexuals in the ROC Military10. Public Attitudes & Media Relations11. Summary of Findings12. Policy Recommendations

Aiming to provide policymakers in the government and military of the Republic of China with an understanding of the current military-society relationship and help them create a more accountable military, the author applies the postmodern military model to civil-military relations in Taiwan, to study the impact of self-identification on a variety of perceptions of the Republic of China military and to what degree the beliefs of Taiwan's citizens about it are impacted by the way they identify ethnically, as either Chinese or Taiwanese. He explains the postmodern military model and the concept of ethnic self-identification, and assesses the military using the model according to the perceptions of the citizens of Taiwan in terms of the model’s dimensions of threat perception that drives the military and society in Taiwan, force structure and conscientious objectors in the military, the mission definition of the military, dominant military professional and civilian employees, spouses in the military community, women and homosexuals in the military, and public attitudes and media relations related to the military, ending with policy recommendations.