Abstract
This examination of the military's role in Polish politics and society between the two world wars attempts to fill a gap in our knowledge of civil-military relations across systems. Despite considerable literature on that subject in advanced industrial societies. (.ommunist states, and the less-developed or Third World countrics, an analytical treatment of civil-military relations in the so-called authoritarian svstems, of which prewar Poland is a prime example, has been conspicuously missing. This research was conducted with the help of two analytical frameworks that are frequently referred to as forming the developmental model. The purpose was not so much to test the use of Western social science methodology but mostly to investigate the possibility of making meaningful cross-systemic and longitudinal comparisons. The conclusion that emerged wxas that prewar Poland represents a textbook case of "oligarchical praetorianism" which suggests in turn the possibility of comparing it with other countries falling under similar and/or different systemic rubrics. Such systemic comparisons should add to our knowledge of civil-militarv relations in a global setting.
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