Civil-Military Relations in Post-Communist Europe Reviewing the Transition [Hardcover]

Fifteen years after the fall of communism, we are able to appraise the results of the multi-faceted postcommunist transition in Central and Eastern Europe with authority.  This volume specifically addresses the fascinating area of Civil-Military relations throughout this transitional period.

The countries of the region inherited a onerous legacy in this area: their armed forces were part of the communist party-state system and most were oriented towards Cold War missions; they were large in size and supported by high levels of defence spending; and they were based on universal male conscription. Central and eastern European states have thus faced a three fold civil-military reform challenge: establishing democratic and civilian control over their armed forces; implementing organisational reform to meet the security and foreign policy demands of the new era; and redefining military bases for legitimacy in society.

This volume assesses the experiences of Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, Ukraine and Russia in these areas. Collectively these countries illustrate the way in which the interaction of broadly similar postcommunist challenges and distinct national contexts have combined to produce a wide variety of different patterns of civil-military relations.

This book was previously published as a special issue of European Security.

Introduction  1. Civil-Military Relations in Postcommunist Europe: Assessing the Transition  2. The Half-Hearted Transformation of the Hungarian Military  3. The Transformation of Postcommunist Civil-Military Relations in Poland  4. Democracy and Defence in Latvia: Thirteen Years of Development: 19912004  5. Civil-Military Relations in Croatia: Politicisation and Politics of Reform  6. The Transformation of Romanian Civil-Military Relations: Enablã-