Stratocracy

A stratocracy is a form of government headed by military chiefs. The branches of government are administered by military forces, the government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and is usually carried out by military workers.

The word "stratocracy" comes from Ancient Greek στρατός (stratós) 'army' and κράτος (krátos) 'dominion, power'.

The word stratocracy first appeared in 1652 from the political theorist Robert Filmer, being preceded in 1649 by stratokratia used by Claudius Salmasius in reference to the newly declared Commonwealth of England. John Bouvier and Daniel Gleason describe a stratocracy as one where citizens with mandatory or voluntary military service, or veterans who have been honorably discharged, have the right to elect or govern. The military's administrative, judicial, and/or legislative powers are supported by law, the constitution, and the society. It does not necessarily need to be autocratic or oligarchic by nature in order to preserve its right to rule. The political scientist Samuel Finer distinguished between stratocracies, where the army takes decisions and rules directly, and military regimes or dictatorships, where the army does not rule itself but instead is tasked with the primary responsibility of enforcing and defending the rule of civil leaders who set the policies of the state and control the activities of the military. Peter Lyon wrote that through history stratocracies have been relatively rare, and that in the latter half of the twentieth century there has been a noticeable increase in the number of stratocratic states due to the "rapid collapse of the West European thalassocracies".

The Diarchy of Sparta was a stratocratic kingdom. From a young age, male Spartans were put through the agoge, necessary for full-citizenship, which was a rigorous education and training program to prepare them to be warriors. Aristotle describes the kingship at Sparta as "a kind of unlimited and perpetual generalship" (Pol. iii. 1285a), while Isocrates refers to the Spartans as "subject to an oligarchy at home, to a kingship on campaign" (iii. 24).

One of the most notable and long-lived examples of a stratocratic state is Ancient Rome, though the stratocratic system developed over time. Following the deposition of the last Roman king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, Rome became an oligarchic Republic. However, with the gradual expansion of the empire and conflicts with its rival Carthage, culminating in the Punic Wars, the Roman political and military system experienced drastic changes. Following the so-called "Marian reforms", de facto political power became concentrated under military leadership, as the loyalty of the legionaries shifted from the Senate to its generals.

Under the First Triumvirate and during the subsequent civil wars, militarism influenced the formation of the Roman Empire, the head of which was acclaimed as "Imperator", previously an honorary title for distinguished military commanders. The Roman army either approved of or acquiesced in the accession of every Roman emperor, with the Praetorian Guard having a decisive role in Imperial succession until Emperor Constantine abolished it. Militarization of the Empire increased over time and emperors were increasingly beholden to their armies and fleets, yet how active emperors were in actually commanding in the field in military campaigns varied from emperor to emperor, even from dynasty to dynasty. The vital political importance of the army persisted up until the destruction of the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

From 1170 to 1270, the kingdom of Goryeo was under effective military rule, with puppet kings on the throne serving mainly as figureheads. The majority of this period was spent under the rule of the Choe family, who set up a parallel system of private administrative systems from their military forces.

Cossacks were predominantly East Slavic people who became known as members of democratic, semi-military and semi-naval communities, predominantly located in Ukraine and in Southern Russia. They inhabited sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper, Don, Terek, and Ural river basins, and played an important role in the historical and cultural development of both Russia and Ukraine. The Zaporozhian Sich was a Cossack semi-autonomous polity and proto-state that existed between the 16th and 18th centuries, and existed as an independent stratocratic state as the Cossack Hetmanate for over a hundred years.