DS is indebted to Eleanor Shaw and the University of York for permission to publish her dissertation entitled 'Civil Military Relations Beyond Military Power: Lessons from the United Kingdom and Germany'.
Eleanor says the survey was...shared through the University of York's Politics Department as well as defence-related organisations such as the think tank DefenceSynergia and the Naval Review, as well as networks connected to organisations for veterans and defence sector professionals.
In the dissertation Eleanor examines how trust, transparency, and public engagement shape civil-military relations in the United Kingdom and Germany during a period of heightened geopolitical instability and renewed European focus on defence. The findings reveal that public trust in defence institutions remains relatively strong despite wider political distrust, suggesting that dissatisfaction is directed more toward governments and political leadership than toward military institutions themselves.
Fundamentally, the paper argues that contemporary civil-military relations depend as much on public trust, legitimacy, and communication as on military capability. The findings carry important implications for public resilience and democratic accountability in an increasingly unstable European security environment.
