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12. Officer Career Management in a Peacetime Democracy
- Author:
- Jack Petri
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- I have been asked to present brief comments on the subject of officer career management in a peacetime democracy. As I have spent much of my 30-year military career involved either directly or indirectly in the management of officers in a democracy (mostly in peace, but also in war), I am very happy to be able to share my thoughts and experience with you today.
- Topic:
- Security, Democratization, Government, and Peace Studies
13. Democratic and Parliamentary Accountability of Intelligence Services after September 11th.
- Author:
- Peter Gill
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- In the past thirty years throughout Europe, the Americas and more sporadically elsewhere the issue of how to institute some democratic control over security intelligence agencies has steadily permeated the political agenda. There have been two main reasons for this change. In what might be described as the 'old' democracies (North America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand) the main impetus for change was scandal involving abuses of power and rights by the agencies. Typically, these gave rise to legislative or judicial enquiries that resulted in new legal and oversight structures for the agencies, some of these achieved by statutes, others by executive orders. The best known examples of these are the U.S. congressional enquiries during 1975-76 (chaired by Senator Church and Representative Pike), Justice McDonald's enquiry into the RCMP Security Service in Canada (1977-81) and Justice Hope's into the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Australia, North America, New Zealand, and Western Europe
14. Security Sector Reform in Bulgaria
- Author:
- Velizar Shalamanov
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- Security Sector Reform (SSR) is an essential part of transformation of the totalitarian states to democratic ones. Security was motive, tool and excuse for the Communist Parties to control totally the state, economy and society at all. As a result security sector - named Armed Forces was extremely large, powerful, secret (un-transparent), under communist party control and separated from society even using all the resources of the society, including young men for 2-3 years.
- Topic:
- Security, Democratization, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Bulgaria
15. Between Efficiency and Legitimacy: Democratic Accountability of the Military in the US, France, Sweden and Switzerland
- Author:
- Hans Born
- Publication Date:
- 11-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- During situations of national emergencies, natural disasters, conflict and war, state institutions have to act quickly and decisively in order to divert dangers. Every state and its society need to have a competent political leadership and government agencies that are able to act efficiently. From a democratic governance point of view, however, it is equally important that the decision-making process and the resulting outcome is both accepted and valued by the people. In other words, it is essential that the processes and outcomes of the state institutions are legitimate within a democracy.
- Topic:
- Security, Democratization, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe
16. Democratic Control of Armed Forces: the National and International Parliamentary Dimension
- Author:
- Wim F. van Eekelen
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- Democracy takes many forms. The basic notion that governments derive their legitimacy from the freely expressed votes of their citizens is translated in many different parliamentary practices. Even the conceptual distinction of the three main functions of government – legislative, executive and judicial – as defined in Montesquieu's Trias Politica, seldom resulted in a complete separation of powers. In many countries the members of the executive also sit in parliament. In the US the separation between legislature and executive is the most complete. The President has wide-ranging authority; his ministers are not responsible to Congress. Nevertheless it works, because of a complicated system of checks and balances affecting both legislationand budget appropriations. In France the President of the Republic regards foreign affairs and defence as his special domain in which the cabinet, let alone parliament, has little influence. A common characteristic of Western democracy, however, is its pluralistic character in which the people elect their representatives and have a choice between different political parties. In some cases the decisions reached in parliamentary assemblies are subject to a referendum as a form of direct democracy.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Democratization, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Europe and France
17. Managing Change: The Reform and Democratic Control of the Security Sector And International Order
- Author:
- Theodor H. Winkler
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- When the Berlin Wall came crashing down and the Cold War reluctantly proved, to everybody's surprise, to be truly over, there was an apparent, almost embarrassing inability to define the key parameters that would mark the new era that had obviously dawned. Even to give it a name proved difficult. The best attempt still remains “Post Cold War World”, i.e. a negative description (the absence of the Cold War) and not a positive analysis of what truly marks the emerging new international system.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, Civil Society, Cold War, Democratization, and Reform
- Political Geography:
- Europe
18. Assessing Democratic Oversight of the Armed Forces
- Author:
- Sander Huisman
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- There is no such thing as the model for democratic control of the armed forces. Perhaps more influential than constitutional arrangements; historical legacies and political cultures are setting conditions. However, a few essentials or principles of democratic oversight can be discerned. This paper aims to provide an overview of the efforts of different post-communist states in establishing democratic oversight over their armed forces. The comparative analysis is based on a study that the staff of the Centre for European Security Studies has conducted last year (Organising National Defences for NATO Membership - The Unexamined Dimension of Aspirants' Readiness for Entry) and the experiences gained from a three-year multi-national programme that CESS has started in 2001 (Democratic Control South East Europe: Parliaments and Parliamentary Staff Education Programme - DEMCON-SEE). This programme is running in seven countries: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia-Montenegro.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Development
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro
19. Evaluation of Security Sector Reform and Criteria of Success: Practical Needs and Methodological Problems
- Author:
- Wilhelm Germann
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- This paper intends to contribute to a systematic consideration of what constitutes success (or failure) in the conduct of Security Sector Reform (SSR). It deliberately refrains from commenting on the substance of the latter. Starting from the premise that realizing the principle of democratic control of armed forces in democratizing and developing countries represents the Archimedean Point and driving element within the overall reform of their respective security sectors the purpose of this paper is to review the need for a normative and methodological framework for evaluation of progress and assessment of success or failure. consider the problems involved in determining, assessing, evaluating and verifying criteria, conditions and factors that are supposed to be instrumental for the achievement of related results.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Development
20. Security Sector Reform: Concepts and Implementation
- Author:
- Timothy Edmunds
- Publication Date:
- 10-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- Security Sector Reform (SSR) has emerged as a key concept in policy and academic circles in recent years. Its origins stem from two main areas. First, from the development community, who have increasingly acknowledged the important role that the 'security sector' plays in issues of economic development and democratisation. Second from the field of civil-military relations (CMR), particularly in relation to developments in central and eastern Europe, where post communist circumstances have led many analysts to think more holistically about key aspects of the CMR debate. SSR takes a holistic approach to the security sector that manifests itself in two ways. First, by recognising the importance of militarised formations other than the regular armed forces in (civil-military) reform efforts. Second by recognising that the role of security and security sector actors in political and economic reform is important and complex, and not simply limited to questions of military praetorianism and civilian control over the armed forces.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Development
- Political Geography:
- Eastern Europe