Suchergebnisse

This article argues that a decade after the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe, the establishment of democratic civil-military relations has moved on from first generation issues of institutional restructuring to second generation challenges relating to the democratic consolidation of these relationships. In practice, these have more to do with issues of state capacity-building and bureaucratic modernization with the traditional concerns of the civil-military relations literature. In most cases, the problem is not the establishment of civilian control over the armed forces or the separation of the military from politics, but rather that of the effective execution of democratic governance of the defense and security sector-particularly in relation to defense policy-making, legislative oversight and the effective engagement of civil-society in a framework of democratic legitimacy and accountability.

Over the last decade there have been major changes in patterns of international defence diplomacy. Defence diplomacy -- peacetime military cooperation and assistance -- has traditionally been used for realpolitik purposes of strengthening allies against common enemies. Since the early 1990s, however, the Western democracies have increasingly used defence diplomacy for a range of new purposes. These include strategic engagement with former or potential enemies, in particular Russia and China, encouraging multilateral regional cooperation, supporting the democratisation of civil-military relations and assisting states in developing peacekeeping capabilities. This Adelphi Paper analyses the new defence diplomacy and the policy challenges and dilemmas it poses. The new defence diplomacy runs alongside the old and there are tensions between the two, in particular between the new goal of promoting democracy and the old imperative of supporting authoritarian allies. These tensions cannot easily be resolved, but external defence diplomacy assistance is likely to play a continuing role in supporting conflict prevention, the reform and democratisation of armed forces and the development of peacekeeping capabilities.

This major comparative study examines the challenges that the countries of postcommunist Central and Eastern Europe have faced in securing democratic control of their armed forces and establishing civilian control of defence policy. This book explores how the interaction of the common challenges of postcommunism and the diverse circumstances of individual countries shape civil-military relations in this changing region. Detailed country case studies, written by leading experts, compare the experiences of the Central European states (such as Poland and Romania), the Baltic republics, the former Yugoslavia republics, Russia and Ukraine