From Independence War to authoritarianism: The construction of military control in Algeria and its transformation (1954-2014)

The main purpose of this thesis which focuses on civil-military relations in Algeria is to examine civilian control of Algeria and its limits by using multi-dimensional research analyze. Different from the studies preferring to take only one factor such as structure or actor to analyze Algerian civil-military relations, the thesis targets at build multi-dimensional analyze on civil-military relation by bringing together both actor behaviors and institutional factors. Considering both institutions such as the Algerian army, state or the FLN and the actors within the institutions in question, the thesis aims to discuss limits and opportunities of any actor in face of the structure. In this context, the thesis describing the actors as civilian and military elites who construct interest groups between each other, firstly examines the coalitions constructed by elites and competing between elites, and secondly discusses the impacts of this relations between elites on civil-military relations. Unlike the assumption polarizing Algerian elites as civilian or military actors in politics, the thesis argues that the actors in Algerian political system has created civil-military coalitions since the beginning of the Independence War and these coalitions have produced a constant rivalry and conflict, which secures the persistence of a new Algerian-style authoritarianism, in other words the persistence of the Algerian regime. In order to the analyze such coalitions and conflict, the thesis uses a multi-dimensional research model by bringing together two approaches in the literature of civil-military relations. It combines the conceptualism of "internal and external threat" developed by Michael C. Desch to measure the behavior of the actors and "control strategies" established by Croissant et al. to deeply analyze critical points in the Algerian state. The main reason behind combining such approaches is to examine both actor behaviors and structural factors. The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter informing the literature of civil-military relations discusses the method of the thesis. The second chapter examines the behaviors of Algerian elites and the building process of the structure during Independence War. While the third chapter focuses on early period of Algerian state and its institutions, the fourth section investigates the civilian control during Abdulaziz Bouteflika era. Rather than directly interesting in Algeria, the last chapter, different from the previous four chapter, compares Algeria with Egypt. The main purpose of the comparative chapter is to test the hypnotizes and arguments which come with up in previous chapters for Algeria with Egypt case.