1 Georgia: Civil-Military Relations in a state without a professional military? by Ronald Scott Mangum, JD, PhD Abstract 1 Huntington wrote about civil-military relations in newly developing countries, but few have dissected the basic concept of what constitutes a civilian and military relationship. What are civil-military relations in a country that has no authorized or state sanctioned military force, where the “military” is essentially civilians in uniform? The country of Georgia declared its independence in 1991, but it had no organized national military force. That vacuum was filled by competing militias led by civilians who had no military training, e.g. a painter and a business clerk. These, and other disparate armed groups, carried out armed activities amounting to a civil war for three years. The Georgian civilian population was deeply affected and developed attitudes toward the military and military service that last until today. This presentation examines the development of civil-military relations in Georgia from its independence and its effect on the progression of Democracy in Georgia and the security of the country and the region. Introduction Huntington posits that a stable state is one in which the instrument of violence is exercised by government security services. He assumes that the instrument of violence is a concomitant of the state’s power to provide security for its citizens and that the instrument of violence is organized in a controlled fashion that can be dealt with by the organs of political power. The result of his position is a professional military force. But what happens when a state lacks an organized military force? How are civil-military relations measured in such a state? Georgia declared its independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in April 1991, but it had no organized military forces and what military forces it had were a vestige of Soviet forces that, at that point had no formal leadership. The country was marginally governed by a weak civil administration that was struggling to hold together an economic basket case. The only armed formations were disparate bands of armed combatants that fought each other for power more often than they provided security. Huntington’s separatist thesis in Soldier and the state, depicts the ‘military professional’ as one who pursues expertise in combat in service to a country’s or society’s defense in 1 This paper is largely based on Chapter 2 of the Author’s dissertation submitted to Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia in 2017. The full dissertation is posted on Academia.edu https://www.academia.edu/68902369/Dissertation_Final_Submitted_2020_The_Development_of_Civil_Mi litary_Relations_and_National_Security_Decision_making_Capability_in_Georgia_Authoritarian_transitio n_or_State_Capture_7_13_docx