Who Will Guard the ‘post-communist’ Guards? Parliament Control and the Use of Force in CEE Countries

Abstract

This paper analyzes the implementation of civilian and democratic control over the military in three Central European countries: Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic during the 1990s. Based on fieldwork, the paper demonstrates that the role of NATO as the main socializing institution is difficult to prove empirically. Indeed, Central and Eastern European (CEE) States were candidate countries in several organizations, making it difficult to discern which organization and which policy transfers of norms and practices were the most effective. Through a comparative analysis, the paper shows that the implementation of democratic and civil control over the military is dependent on endogenous institutional dynamics, the interplay between political actors, and the Communist heritage of civilian control.