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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The armed forces as guardians of institutions and freedoms

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“Let arms yield to the toga” (Cicero). It is generally from this angle that legal and political thought studies the military, with the idea of subjecting them to the civil authorities. This book takes the opposite view, analysing the role of the armed forces, whether professional or not, as protectors of institutions and liberties, in the light of doctrines. It explains why several countries have chosen to offer the military the deposit of their constitution, in other words their guardianship, going so far as to ratify their regulatory power. As an alternative to the right of resistance, this guardianship is not without danger, and can sometimes lead to a "democracy in the shadow of swords" (M. Duverger), and sometimes to a dictatorship.