MANILA -- Ideally, in a democracy the military is subordinate to the political leadership, which enjoys a popular mandate through universal elections. In reality, civil-military relations often have a different quality.

When I was a political science student, the theory of the "military-industrial complex" was in vogue. Those were the days of the Vietnam War, and it was fashionable even outside leftist circles to identify an almost collusive closeness between U.S. policymakers and weapons manufacturers and their lobbies.

It is no coincidence that similar theories have once more become popular as America, the sole superpower, has waged new costly wars in different parts of the world.