Civil-Democratic Control of Ukraine's Armed Forces: To What End? By What Means?

• Published in: The journal of communist studies and transition politics Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 65 - 77
• Main Author: Sherr, James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01.03.2001
• Subjects: Armed Forces; Army; Military Civilian Relations; National Security; Postcommunist Societies; Ukraine
• ISSN: 1352-3279; 1743-9116
• DOI: 10.1080/714003557

Ukraine does not have the luxury of regarding the building of democratic civilian control of its military establishment as an end in itself. It is not enough that the armed forces are subservient to the country's political authorities: they must also be capable of performing the tasks assigned to them - they must be effective, otherwise they can pose as grave a danger to national security as an army that is subject to no control at all. The challenge for Ukraine is to overcome the negative legacies of its communist past, to adopt new democratic norms of civil-military relations, and to develop the modern, flexible, effective (and cost-effective) armed forces that it so desperately needs. Although much progress has been made, especially at an analytical level with the drawing up of a new National Security and Defence Concept in 1997, there remains far more to be done and the future remains uncertain. (Original abstract)