Armies and politics -: On the democratic control of east European armies

The East European states have had to confront five challenges in establishing democratic control over their armies: they have had to overcome structures inherited from the socialist era, prevent independent action by the army, ensure that the army could not be misused, and build up democratic norms,and decisionmaking processes and civilian expertise. For a long time, democratic control over the armed forces did not advance beyond the level of formal institution-building. It became clear that the main problem was not the need to prevent military intervention in politics, but the construction of effective mechanisms guaranteeing civilian input, control, and feedback.