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1151. September 11: New Challenges and Problems for Democratic Oversight

Author:
Nicholas Williams
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
The implications of the events of September 11 are not yet fully clear. Generally, national security policies and postures take some time to appreciate the effects of strategic shifts. Even if the lessons are quickly learnt, security structures can be slow to absorb them. European defence structures and capabilities are already subject to the transformation required by the end of east-west confrontation and the arrival in the 1990s of the new demands of crisis management. Yet, over twelve years after the end of the Cold War, the necessary transformations and re-posturing of European armed forces are still under way. This is partly due to the scale of the task; partly the result of the costs of military restructuring (while banking immediately the savings arising from force reductions, Governments have preferred to invest over time in new military capabilities); and partly because there is no great sense of urgency. By definition, crisis management is a question of political choice, rather than a matter of direct national security. Developing the necessary capabilities has been an evolutionary process, subject to the need to manage new programmes within declining defence budgets.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Defense Policy, Cold War, and Democratization
Political Geography:
Europe

1152. New Challenges, New Opportunities, The Security Sector Reform in Romania

Author:
Liviu Muresan
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
The international security environment registered a dramatic change after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. The instrument, training, scare budgets, lake of inter agencies cooperation could be sometime not only insufficient but also inadequate.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Development
Political Geography:
Europe and Romania

1153. The Expertise of Norway in the Parliamentary Control of Armed Forces

Author:
Anders C. Sjaastad
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
The NATO summit in Prague in the autumn of 2002 is scheduled to address the issue of further enlargement of the Alliance. Amongst the most important criteria when assessing the suitability of candidate countries will be the degree of effective parliamentary control with the armed forces, as was the case in the last round of NATO enlargement. That is also why one of the objectives in NATO's Partnership for Peace programme is that would-be members should ensure democratic control of the military. This is a well-established principle of long standing in democratic societies – and for obvious reasons. Even the most cursory look at history demonstrates the importance of ensuring, in any society, that the armed forces are subordinate to democratically elected authorities. Equally familiar are the particular problems facing the countries of Central and Eastern Europe due to the legacy of single party rule and the positions of dominance enjoyed by their military.
Topic:
Defense Policy and Civil Society
Political Geography:
Europe

1154. Border Control Services and Security Sector Reform

Author:
Alice Hills
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
This paper provides a baseline of knowledge and reference materials to support future work on the role of border control services in security sector reform (SSR). It summarises the current state of research on border control services in the broader context of SSR, examines the discursive field, and identifies the relevance to border services of the concept of democratic control.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Civil Society, and Politics

1155. Civil-Military Relations Theory in the Post-Communist World

Author:
Daniel Zirker and Costas Danopoulos
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
The pivotal role of soldiers in warfare, empire building, and national security has been the subject of epic poets, historians, and other social scientists since time immemorial. By comparison, one finds precious little on the role military officers played in domestic politics, despite the fact the soldiers overthrew emperors and other office holders, installed new ones, and influenced government decisions in prehistoric, ancient, and modern societies. Yet, beginning with WWI, a series of major political, social, and economic developments, including the travails suffered by newly independent countries,stimulated empirically oriented social scientists to seek to understand the critically important role the armed forces played in the domestic politics of old and new societies alike. This gave birth to civil-military relations as subfield of comparative politics.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Civil Society, Democratization, and Politics

1156. Problems of Democratic Control of Armed Forces in Central and Eastern Europe

Author:
Janos Matus
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
The changing role of the military force is one of the most complex issues of the evolving international security system. The new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe experience enormous difficulties in coping with this situation. The sources of problems are only partially financial ones. It is fair to say that difficulties other than financial and material, are even more complex and hard to solve. The proper way of dealing with the military issues is key for the solution of a number of other important problems relating to security. The governments of the new democracies will have to address two basic problems before they justifiably can expect concrete results in this field. First, the leaders of the Central and Eastern European countries will have to realized the need for a well conceived political decision-making process as a precondition for making right decisions on defense issues. This process should be able to integrate different policy options, independent expert views and input from the public as to the preferences of the citizens concerning security and defense. Second, Central and Eastern European countries need new mechanisms and institutional framework both in the governments and in the area of education and research to deliberate basic issues of security and prepare appropriate policy options.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Civil Society, and Democratization
Political Geography:
Europe

1157. The Persistent Problem of Civil-Military Relations in East and Central Europe: a Briefing Note on Democratic Control of Armed Forces

Author:
David Betz
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
Ten years into the post-communist era the transformation of civil-military relations to democratic norms is still a major political issue with the potential to delay, complicate or even thwart the transition to democracy of many post-communist countries. This is the main lesson to be drawn regarding the promotion of the democratic control of the armed forces: the problem is exceptionally persistent. Nowhere in the Central and East European region can we point to a country that has established a totally satisfactory mechanism of civilian and democratic control of its military establishment. Even in new NATO states that have made great strides in this respect considerable problems still remain. To a large degree, the specific problems of civil-military relations differ from one post-communist country to another. The deficiencies of the current system in the Czech Republic, for example, differ qualitatively and quantitatively from those of Russia or Ukraine. Nonetheless, there are some readily identifiable causes of the persistence of the problem of civil-military relations that are consistent across all the post-communist states.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Civil Society, and Democratization
Political Geography:
Europe

1158. Harmonizing Security Sector Reform Defence Agreements Security Sector Reform in Croatia—the Defence Establishment

Author:
Jack Petri
Publication Date:
07-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
This paper offers a survey of several key areas of defence reform, in the broader context of Security Sector Reform (SSR). It does so by presenting a number of issues that demonstrate competing challenges for MOD and military leaders in the reform process. The first section explores the concept of "pre-conditions" for defence reform, and questions the viability of what is implied as an essentially chronological ordering of reform steps or actions. The second section discusses the transition environment in terms of external assistance and what I refer to as the "art of the possible," and this in the context of pre-conditions for defence reform. The third section is a brief comment on The Search for a Security Concept for South East Europe (SEE). The final section deals with defence reform in Croatia.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Civil Society, and Democratization
Political Geography:
Europe

1159. The Relevance of Democratic Control of the Security Sector

Author:
Marina Caparini and Philipp Fluri
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
When the Fourth International Security Forum was held in November 2000, the idea of security sector reform (SSR) was just beginning to spread through those policy and academic communities that deal with democratisation, development, defence and foreign assistance. The emergence of the concept suggested the growing acceptance of a broader definition of security than the traditional definition focused on military security of the state. According to this broader definition, security has nonmilitary elements as well, and the object of security is not only the state, but importantly includes individuals and society more broadly. Security sector reform expands the scope of security to include "public security", or the safety of the individual from threats of crime, disorder and violence. Because security sector reform is focused on the use of public resources to provide security for citizens, there is a necessary focus in security sector reform on state (often executive) institutions and public policy. Such institutions include military forces, policing structures, paramilitary forces, intelligence agencies, border management services, the judicial system and penal institutions, as well as the state bureaucratic structures that exist to formulate policy and manage these institutions. SSR accordingly recommends a holistic approach to reforming state structures responsible for providing security. Although the policy and academic communities promoting the security sector reform concept favour a holistic approach, serious practical obstacles exist in achieving a comprehensive and integrated understanding of the enormously complex public policy domains relevant to security, and the multi-sectoral reform requirements that would inhere in a democratising state.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Civil Society, Democratization, and Politics

1160. The Swiss Commitment to Transparency - Building in Southeast Europe

Author:
Philipp Fluri
Publication Date:
06-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
As early as in 1996, Southeast European intellectuals like Professor Tilcho Ivanov underscored the importance of defence budget transparency and prudent management for regional confidence-building in the Balkans (see ISIS Research Report No. 6/1996 "Confidence and Security in the Balkans: The Role of Transparency in Defence Budgeting") and warned simultaneously of the adverse effects of unrealistically limited defence budgets.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Democratization, and National Security
Political Geography:
Europe