Evolution of inspection supervision of the Serbian Armed Forces seen through comparative historical method

Abstract

An essential requirement for the functioning of military organization systems is their directing through certain functions and processes leading to the achievement of the set objectives. Control is an integral part of any organization's life. In theory and practice of control, special importance is attributed to inspection supervision as a form of exercising the control and supervisory activities of the state administration bodies. The primary purpose of the inspection supervision of military organization systems is to provide feedback, an insight into output values, in order to regulate the situation in the system, i.e. bringing the output values to the level of expected and projected values. To achieve this, the system need to comprise such elements that measure, evaluate, compare, and intervene. These roles in the inspection supervision of the Armed Forces are played by different inspection bodies. Over a certain period, inspection bodies adapted to the current situation and reflected the needs of the system of the country and its military. Over time, the organization, method and concept of work changed, which resulted in its evolution from the time when it was clearly organizationally sized to the current situation. Changes and methods of inspection supervision are shown using comparative historical method, focusing on similarities and differences and the set standards, from the period of the first inspection in the Serbian Royal Army in the late 19th century until 2011, when the Defense Inspectorate of the Republic of Serbia was established.

Keywords

• military organization
• control
• supervision
• inspection
• inspection supervision
• combat readiness
• comparative historical method