Army and State in postcommunist Europe

Book abstract:

Drawing on the contributions of practitioners from Central and East European countries, as well as scholars, this study explores the complex military issues that are raised by the transition to post-communist rule in these countries, with particular reference to Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and the new NATO member states, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

The book looks at the different solutions to the problem of democratic control after communism and adds its valuable contribution to the study of post-communist political systems by addressing a number of important questions including: How exactly are the armed forces controlled in a democratic society? What types of laws, institutions and procedures are necessary for such a system of control to exist? And in matters of policy, is there a strict line between what is a political decision to be made only by elected civilians and what is a military-technical decision best left to the military professionals?

The accounts in this volume suggest that we are nearing the point that we can no longer refer to the post-communist states collectively since although each of the countries discussed face similar problems, contributors find that their responses are surprisingly diverse.

Most contributors to this volume participated in a conference organised in March 2000 by the Scottish Centre for War Studies and the Institute of Central and East European Studies, both at the University of Glasgow. The object of the volume is to contribute to a better understanding, in both east and west, of the transition to democratic civil-military relations in post-communist countries and thereby to their successful consolidation in the not-too-distant future.