This book vividly describes the historical background, current issues, and remaining challenges of Turkey's security sector institutions and their democratic oversight. As Turkey proceeds on its path towards possible European Union membership, this book documents its progress on the touchstone issue of contemporary civil-military relations, the challenging issue of instituting civilian and democratic oversight and control mechanisms over a whole array of security institutions including the police, gendarmerie, army, intelligence services and many others. Military relations in Turkey have undergone great and constructive changes during the past few years, which, if continued, will also have a positive impact on the accession negotiations with the European Union. In this context it will be very important, building on the goodwill which the Turkish military possess in society, to develop an informed security community consisting of members of parliament, academicians, journalists underpinning of security policy.

There is no recipe for democratisation that can be readily applied to all countries. Every country presents unique factors that influence the fate of its democratic reforms, which must therefore be evaluated within their specific socio-political, cultural and historical context. Building on this premise, this paper examines military reform and democratisation through the experiences of Turkey and Indonesia, two democratising countries with predominantly Muslim populations, secular regimes, and militaries that are deeply involved in politics. The paper strives to explain why both the Turkish and Indonesian militaries, which have developed a sense of ownership over the state, may be wary of democratic change; how 'the people' perceive the military's traditional role in society; and in which direction societal and military attitudes towards democratic reform have been moving over the years. In relating these domestic observations to various external factors, it seeks to identify the regional and global trends, events and actors that promote and obstruct the development of substantive democracy in each country, and to draw broader lessons for the study of democratisation and military reform.

The 'SIPRI Yearbook 2011' analyses developments in security and conflicts, military spending, non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament worldwide over the past year.

How do state institutions reform themselves in the face of outside pressures? This study undertakes an in-depth analysis of the institutional and human rights reform process within the Turkish National Police, which faces pressure from the EU as part of Turkey's EU membership process, and examines the challenges and consequences of the process.

This paper describes and explains the evolution of gendarmerie-type forces, i.e. police forces with a military status, over the past three decades. It focuses on their institutional features and functions, including material and human resources, and uses case studies from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa to illustrate these characteristics in different contexts. The overall development of gendarmeries has been a somewhat paradoxical one. On the one hand, most of these forces have witnessed a considerable expansion, and come to assume an increasingly prominent role in addressing many of the currently most important security challenges, ranging from border control and counterterrorism to public order tasks in international peace operations. On the other hand, there has also been a trend towards the demilitarization of gendarmeries, which in some European countries has ultimately led to their dissolution and integration into the civilian police. The paper suggests an explanation of these seemingly contradictory developments with reference to two broad – and at least partly opposing – trends: the convergence of internal and external security agendas, which to a large extent is a post-Cold War phenomenon; and the demilitarization of internal security, which is a more long-term historical trend and part of the more general democratization process. Based on this analysis, the paper predicts that in the long run gendarmeries are likely to be further demilitarized, eventually losing their formal military status, although in the context of international peace operations militarized gendarmerie forces are expected to play an increasingly significant part.

This volume presents a unique examination of Western-led police reform efforts by theoretically linking neoliberal globalization, police reform and development. The authors present seven country case studies based on this theoretical and conceptual approach and assess the prospects for successful police reform in a global context.