ABRI Generalising about the role of the military anywhere is fraught with danger as it risks ignoring local factors which may be the key to explaining the military's attitude towards society and vice-versa.
Armed forces are products of their particular historical circumstances.
Their role and self-perception is a function of the manner they were born, evolved and accepted by society at large. While much has been written about why, when, and how the military involves in politics, bulk of the literature is based on the Anglo-Saxon experience which tends to adopt a clearly dichotomous position of civilian supremacy over the military, something that is not always readily found in many societies. There are many writings on East Timor and majority of them have been written with great passion. Inevitably, there has been a tendency for great outpouring of emotions as far as works on the subject are concerned. While much has been written about why, when, and how the military involves in politics, bulk of the literature is based on the Anglo-Saxon experience which tends to adopt a clearly dichotomous position of civilian supremacy over the military, something that is not always readily found in many societies.