CIAO DATE: 04/05

Civil Society and Democratic Civil-Military Relations - the Case of Hungary

Abstract

The argument of this paper is that the early success of building DCMR does not mean real consolidation without active non-governmental actors and a dynamic civil society. Drawing attention to the non-state side of civil-military relations is crucial to improving the quality of DCMR in Hungary, and probably in general as well. The .horizontal actors. of civil-military relations could provide independent experts, or at least relatively independent experts other than the political parties. experts, for monitoring certain areas of civil-military relations. These organizations could be potential sources for civilian experts and could help decrease the level of corruption and the nonfunctional effects of political/bureaucratic coalition building between civilians and military leaders. In other words, it would improve the effective control of civilians over the military. Additionally, its role is to prevent the further alienation of citizens on military-related issues. Thus, a stronger horizontal dimension to CMR would also improve military integration into society.

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