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In an attempt to complement the available but deficient conceptualization of civil–military relations (CMR), I propose, in this chapter, a new, more relevant framework with equal applicability to both developing and consolidated democracies. The prevalent concept of civil–military relations is concerned primarily with the armed forces, and narrowly with issues of praetorianism and military intrusion in domestic politics through coups d’état, as well as with asserting civilian control of the military. I expand these ideas into a framework that better captures the priorities and requirements of both democratic consolidation and contemporary security challenges. It consists of a trinity:(1) Democratic civilian control of the security forces; 1 (2) the effectiveness of the security forces in fulfilling their assigned roles; 2 and (3) their efficiency, that is, fulfilling the assigned roles and missions at a minimum cost. 3 (The concept of efficiency …