Civilian Rule Quotes

The Military shall be subordinate to the Civil authority

If democracy succeeds in Egypt, other countries will follow. Should the democratic experiment in Egypt be hijacked by the military or anti-democratic Islamist groups, the revolution will fail elsewhere.

No one will involve the army in political processes!

My message to the Turkish people is never to view any military intervention positively because through military intervention, democracy cannot be achieved.

I have done my duty by the laws of my people and I am sorry my people were led this time by men who were not soldiers and that crimes were committed of which I had no knowledge.

In Latin America, in the past, it was almost impossible to guarantee democracy. There were military dictatorships, and nowadays there are not so many military dictatorships. Although we have a dictator in Honduras, as a result of a coup, now as a president, he is almost the only one I would say. But again led or managed, gestated by the U.S. government.

Let the soldier yield to the civilian.

We have been under military rule since 1952, when a group of army officers overthrew Egypt's monarchy and ended Britain's occupation of the country. But that only replaced an external occupation with an internal one, in which favored sons of the armed forces replaced their uniforms with suits, a move meant to create a semblance of civilian rule.

The army is a poor school for democracy.

Nigeria shed the last of a succession of brutal military dictatorships in 1997 and adopted a democratic form of government only in 1999. Our elections of 2003, 2007, and 2011 were complicated and fraught with tension, but each one has shown remarkable progress.

Duarte is a moderate when it comes to civilian control of the military and curbing death squads. On economics, the man is almost a Marxist.

My definition of democracy is - A form and a method of Government whereby revolutionary changes in the social life are brought about without bloodshed. That is the real test. It is perhaps the severest test. But when you are judging the quality of the material you must put it to the severest test.

On Dec. 1, 1948, after the triumph of the revolution, which insured the final victory of the will of the people expressed through elections, President Jose Figueres abolished the army in my country.

I even reject and condemn in the strongest terms the idea, the consideration of a military coup. If I had the chance I would stand in front of the people who would attempt such a thing and open my arms and beg them to stop.

As much as we Egyptians treasure our military, acting alone it cannot provide the legitimacy to lay the foundations for democracy.

In Burma, our main goal in amending the constitution is not to phase out the military from politics. Our main point is to put the constitution in line with international standards and norms.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Latin America moved decisively away from military rule and toward civilian democracy.

It is very unusual for a country to ask guys who are not politicians to come and run the country.

I want them to forget me.

My mission is to lead the country out of a bad situation of corruption, depression and slavery. After I rid the country of these vices, I will then organize and supervise a general election of a genuinely democratic civilian government.

… in time of peace armies are dangerous to liberty …. the military power shall always be held in an exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it.