Civil-Military Relations and National Security Thinking in Czechoslovakia: A Conference Report.

摘要

This Report analyzes the discussions between Czechoslovak and U.S. government officials and security experts during a workshop on 'Civil-Military Relations and the Development of National Security Policy in the United States and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR)' held in Prague, CSFR, on May 5-7, 1991. The workshop was devoted to the issues of civilian-military relations and national security policy in the new, post-Communist Czechoslovakia. Throughout Eastern Europe, civilian-military relations are undergoing fundamental changes as the new civilian officials assert control over military establishments previously controlled by ruling Communist parties. In the Czechoslovak case, the deep antimilitary outlook prevalent in the society, the ethnic conflict that has the potential to break the state apart, the ambivalence of some of the current top officials toward the military as a component of security policy, and the brevity of the transition from a Communist to a democratic system further complicate the process. The central conclusion from the workshop is that the Czechoslovak military has evolved greatly toward a genuine state institution since the political changes in late 1989. However, Czechoslovak officials look to the United States and other Western nations for help in training personnel, both uniformed military and civilian security experts. Such help ensures the continued successful transformation of the Czechoslovak military. The workshop occurred before the August 1991 coup that marked the end of Communist dictatorship in the former USSR. As a result, the sense of unease about instability and potential spillover of ethnic strife from the Ukraine into Slovakia has probably increased. These developments are bound to motivate Czechoslovak officials to continue to further institutionalize the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and to attain security guarantees through membership in Western security organizations.