Military influence on democratization

This thesis aims to address the military’s role in democratization studies by identifying the variable that determines whether the military’s role in the transition is successful or unsuccessful. The study has been done through a comparative study by most similar case design, by studying Benin and Nigeria. By looking at previous literature and thus structuring the thesis around their theories, the empirical section investigates four main aspects; civic-military relations, military action and capabilities, gains for democratization and relation to the new government. By identifying the main difference in the two cases which pointed to the fact that in Benin the military were fractured prior to the democratization process, while in Nigeria, the military were unitary which thus proves that this variable determines whether the military’s involvement is successful or unsuccessful. This study also showed that the variables are connected through a chain of events