Domestic Operations and Aid to Civil Power

Essay by jen_spoonUniversity, Bachelor'sB+, January 2010

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The Canadian Armed Forces has focused training and employment efforts on peace keeping missions and deployed operations. It is due to this effort that they have not sufficiently or effectively trained or prepared to provide aid to civil power. This paper will outline the differences between Canadian policies with respect to a liberal-democratic theory used by the military in domestic operations. The Canadian Forces will need to initialize sufficient training in the future in order to provide for domestic operations and develop a state of domestic operational readiness. This paper will initially explain the definition of liberal-democracy and identify how a liberal-democratic society could employ their military in response to domestic operations and aid to civil power. A historical perspective will be shown through a comparison of Canadian and American law and policy, theories presented throughout the course as well as reference to a number of articles, websites and books.

It will demonstrate that the Canadian Forces Army transformation has not shown evidence of domestic operational readiness in comparison with American theory and practice to similar situations.

There is a significant difference of opinion as to what constitutes a liberal-democratic society. Democracy simply refers to majority rule, whereas "liberal" is the belief that people are governed by self-interest, where the individuals themselves are the best judges to where their self-interest associates. In situations where an individual's self-interests cannot be reconciled, in a liberal society final decision is made according to a number of predetermined guidelines such as a Constitution. (Wikipedia, Liberal Democracy) Thus, it is possible to have a democratic society that is not "liberal" or a liberal society that is not "democratic". Therefore there is no1/9theoretical ideal of liberal-democracy. Instead one finds "liberal democratic nations" that span the spectrum from complete liberalism to complete democracy. Canada and the United...