Identifying the challenges to defence reform in Central and Eastern Europe: observations from the field (original) (raw)

A Comparative Study of Defense Reforms in Eastern European Nations

2010

This thesis analyzes the defense reforms in transitioning nations in Eastern Europe after the end of the Cold War. The objective is to compare the similarities and differences, as well as discern possible patterns of defense reform. To provide an analysis of this topic, literature on public management reforms will be studied to better understand the array of socioeconomic , political and other factors, which may be involved in defense-oriented public management reforms. A proposed framework of different forces of reforms (influence) and the tides of reforms (purpose) will be developed to compare and analyze the defense reforms in different countries. The model could serve as a framework for future analysis of defense reforms in other parts of the world.

Anatomy of Post-Communist European Defense Institutions: The Mirage of Military Modernity

Scientia Militaria, 2020

In Anatomy of post-communist European defense institutions: The mirage of military modernity, Thomas-Durell Young's aim was to determine why Central and Eastern European (CEE) states have failed to apply democratic defence governance concepts, despite 25 years of Western assistance programmes. Young provides an indepth comparative analysis of the impact of Western defence reform programmes on CEE states, from the end of the Cold War to circa 2015, which is of great theoretical importance for South African defence planners.

The threat of war and domestic restraints to defence reform- how fear of major military conflict changed and did not change the Ukrainian military 2014-2019

Defence Studies, 2019

The annexation of Crimea and the Russia enabled rebellion in Donbas created a need for radical improvements of Ukrainian military capability. This study discusses how different, mostly domestic, reform drivers and reform impeding factors had impact on the pace of Ukrainian top-down defence reform in the period since the confrontation with Russia started in 2014. It concludes that reform has been uneven, and that while vested organizational interests and dominant organizational ideas explain much of the slowness of reform, also corruption played a significant role. Furthermore, the Ukrainian case demonstrates how foreign pressure was important to facilitate reform even in a country that found itself facing the danger of major war. Nevertheless, the study does confirm previous findings that a "threat of defeat in war" in the end overcome domestic restraints to defence reform.

The Relevance of Economic, Organizational, and Socio-Cognitive Perspectives in Explaining the Downsizing of Military Bureaucracies: The Case of Ukraine

The literature on military transformation agrees that large military bureaucracies are designed to produce routine, repetitive and orderly actions. Therefore, these structures often become a major source of resistance to organizational downsizing. Despite variation in scope and forms, militaries in Europe have undergone substantial restructuring in the 1990s and 2000s wherein alliance membership served as a motivation of such organizational transformation. This paper surveys the extent to which NATO membership affects the downsizing of military organizations in various applicant nations. By focusing on the process of organizational downsizing in Ukraine, the study traces the relevancy of economic, institutional, and socio-cognitive explanations for military reforms aimed at downsizing. This former Soviet Republic is the only nation in Eastern Europe that officially declared its intention to join NATO and then withdrew its bid for membership. Therefore, Ukraine's transformation provides a valuable insight into the extent to which the political authority of conducting military reforms is moving from domestic bureaucracies and centralized government toward supranational organizations and regional powers. On the policy side, the paper provides valuable insight into the extent to which NATO should consider potential membership bids from governments that are being challenged by competing domestic and external pressures.

The Russian Defense Reform and Its Limitations, Caucasian Review of International Affairs, 2, 1 (2008).

Caucasian review of international affairs. online, 2008

After years of neglect due to financial constraints, the Russian military has entered a period of systemic development. The ongoing defense reform has introduced a few important changes, but so far the pace of the reform is slow. In order to review the current reform effort, a number of factors - the resistance of the military elite to reform, the demographic factor, the lack of a clear defense doctrine, the restructuring of the defense industry and the state of the civil control over the military - will be analyzed. These limitations will define not only the pace of the defense reform, but also Russia’s ability to play a more active role in the international arena.

2008 Russian military reform: An adequate response to global threats and challenges of the twenty-first century? [La reforma militar rusa de 2008: ¿una respuesta adecuada a las amenazas y retos del siglo veintiuno?]

Rev. Cient. General José María Córdova, 2016

Applying a military sciences’ methodology namely DOTMLPF, this paper examines the 2008 Russian military reform to determine whether or not it will prepare Russia to face contemporary threats and challenges. Analysing published studies with the results of a DOTMLPF assessment and essentials of modern military thinking, this paper offers conclusions on the effectiveness of the reform. Besides, it provides a new perspective when analysing military reforms and emphasises the significance of Russia and its military capability for the global balance of power [Mediante la aplicación de una metodología de las ciencias militares llamada DOTMLPF (por sus siglas en inglés), este artículo examina la reforma militar rusa de 2008 para determinar si preparará a Rusia para afrontar amenazas y desafíos contemporáneos. Al analizar la literatura existente con los resultados del análisis DOTMLPF y los principios de pensamiento militar moderno, este artículo ofrece conclusiones sobre la eficacia de la reforma. De igual forma, provee una nueva perspectiva cuando se analizan reformas militares y enfatiza la relevancia de Rusia y su capacidad militar para el balance de poder global]

Baltic Security Reform The Path of Transition: From the Past towards Efficient Armed Forces

Connections: The Quarterly Journal, 2003

Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have now succeeded in achieving the main goal of their security policy aspirations: all three were invited to join NATO at the November Prague Summit. The mature political and economic development in the three-very different-states has made this step natural. During the last five or so years the three have also gradually accelerated their efforts to prepare their developing armed forces for a role in the Alliance. This task has not been and will not be easy. One of the reasons is that this task included first a build-up from scratch and thereafter a total reform of those first structures. The latter challenge is similar to that required everywhere in the Central and Eastern European armed forces: to make them focused and cost-effective. This article will cover different key aspects of the security reform needs in all these states, thereby indirectly covering the security situation in the Baltic States since 1991 and into the coming years. It is built on eight years of observation, study, conversations, and work in the three states as an insider, albeit one with the perspective of an outsider. In the last three years, the regional perspective has been supplemented and enriched with observations and conversations in several other Central and East European countries. The initial build-up of the Baltic states' armed forces In the period immediately following independence, the build-up of the armed forces was seen as urgent. During the first few years, there was an acute perception of threat. The Russian occupation troops were still present, and statements from a variety of sources in the Russian Federation reinforced the inherently problematic nature of their presence. Something had to be done, quickly, to develop the ability to fight back. This was not easy. Cadres for the armed forces had to be recruited. Some were found among the limited number of relatively untainted professionals from the Soviet Armed Forces. Others came from the volunteer cadres of the home guard forces that were created or recreated in 1990-91. The latter group was supplemented with officers, normally retired, from the Baltic diaspora in the U.S. and elsewhere. A strained relationship between these two groups and their political friends added to the problems on several occasions. None had any experience in building and operating armed forces in small democracies. © The operational forces must be organized as flexible "tool boxes," where the elements are equipped and well exercised in cooperation between themselves and with forces from other states.