CIAO DATE: 09/04

The Expertise of Norway in the Parliamentary Control of Armed Forces

Abstract

The NATO summit in Prague in the autumn of 2002 is scheduled to address the issue of further enlargement of the Alliance. Amongst the most important criteria when assessing the suitability of candidate countries will be the degree of effective parliamentary control with the armed forces, as was the case in the last round of NATO enlargement. That is also why one of the objectives in NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme is that would-be members should ensure democratic control of the military. This is a well-established principle of long standing in democratic societies – and for obvious reasons. Even the most cursory look at history demonstrates the importance of ensuring, in any society, that the armed forces are subordinate to democratically elected authorities. Equally familiar are the particular problems facing the countries of Central and Eastern Europe due to the legacy of single party rule and the positions of dominance enjoyed by their military.

The objective therefore is clear. The question is how to achieve it. There is no single model. The way in which countries ensure democratic political control of their military vary greatly depending on the history, culture and constitutional arrangements of the country concerned. However, there are several principal features, principles and guidelines.

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