Politics and the Russian Army
Politics and the Russian Army

Author: Brian D. Taylor

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-06-09

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780521016940

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Military coups have plagued many countries around the world, but Russia, despite its tumultuous history, has not experienced a successful military coup in over two centuries. In a series of detailed case studies, Brian Taylor explains the political role of the Russian military. Drawing on a wealth of new material, including archives and interviews, Taylor discusses every case of actual or potential military intervention in Russian politics from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin. Taylor analyzes in particular detail the army's behavior during the political revolutions that marked the beginning and end of the twentieth century, two periods when the military was, uncharacteristically, heavily involved in domestic politics. He argues that a common thread unites the late-Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russian army: an organizational culture that believes that intervention against the country's political leadership - whether tsar, general secretary, or president - is fundamentally illegitimate.

Russian Civil-military Relations
Russian Civil-military Relations

Author: Thomas Gomart

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13:

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"This perceptive and well-informed study highlights the continuity of the Russian (civilian and military) security community's distrust of the outside world, fueled by NATO enlargement. Communism may be dead in Russia, but the obsession with 'threats' continues, rallying the population and keeping security elites in power. This makes Russia an uncomfortable world player to live with. A must read."--Beatrice Heuser, professor and chair of International Relations, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Reading (UK) As Russia reasserts itself on the international stage, the relationship between its civilian and military spheres remains one of the determining factors in the organization of political power. Thomas Gomart's Russian Civil-Military Relations: Putin's Legacy looks beyond traditional dualism between the Kremlin and the military, introducing the role of the security services in Russian power distribution. With the support of the siloviki (security service) and justification through the fight against "international terrorism," Putin worked throughout his administration to reestablish presidential control over the military. As Russia transitions to Dmitry Medvedev's presidency, it is important to not only review the Putin presidency, which has given many of the country's institutions their shape, but also to reach back further into post-communist and Soviet history for an understanding of the realities of today. Russian Civil-Military Relations provides crucial analysis of the nature and evolution of the balance between civilian and military institutions. These relations will continue to influence regime development, security policy, and societal attitudes that build from Putin's Russia to Medvedev's administration and into the future.

Civil-Military Conflict in Imperial Russia, 1881-1914
Civil-Military Conflict in Imperial Russia, 1881-1914

Author: William C. Fuller Jr.

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-07-14

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 1400857724

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This book is a full-scale study in English of tsarist civil-military relations in the last decades of the Russian Empire. Originally published in 1985. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Civil-Military Relations and Shared Responsibility
Civil-Military Relations and Shared Responsibility

Author: Dale R. Herspring

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2013-06-01

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 1421409291

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A provocative approach to evaluating civil-military relations. Dale R. Herspring considers the factors that allow some civilian and military organizations to operate more productively in a political context than others, bringing into comparative study for the first time the military organizations of the U.S., Russia, Germany, and Canada. Refuting the work of scholars such as Samuel P. Huntington and Michael C. Desch, Civil-Military Relations and Shared Responsibility approaches civil-military relations from a new angle, military culture, arguing that the optimal form of civil-military relations is one of shared responsibility between the two groups. Herspring outlines eight factors that contribute to conditions that promote and support shared responsibility among civilian officials and the military, including such prerequisites as civilian leaders not interfering in the military's promotion process and civilian respect for military symbols and traditions. He uses these indicators in his comparative treatment of the U.S., Russian, German, and Canadian militaries. Civilian authorities are always in charge and the decision on how to treat the military is a civilian decision. However, Herspring argues, failure by civilians to respect military culture will antagonize senior military officials, who will feel less free to express their views, thus depriving senior civilian officials, most of whom have no military experience, of the expert advice of those most capable of assessing the far-reaching forms of violence. This issue of civilian respect for military culture and operations plays out in Herspring's country case studies. Scholars of civil-military relations will find much to debate in Herspring's framework, while students of civil-military and defense policy will appreciate Herspring's brief historical tour of each countries' post–World War II political and policy landscapes.

Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military
Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military

Author: Zoltan Barany

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2009-01-10

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 140082804X

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A rare, behind-the-scenes look at Russian military politics Why have Russian generals acquired an important political position since the Soviet Union's collapse while at the same time the effectiveness of their forces has deteriorated? Why have there been no radical defense reforms in Russia since the end of the cold war, even though they were high on the agenda of the country's new president in 2000? Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military explains these puzzles as it paints a comprehensive portrait of Russian military politics. Zoltan Barany identifies three formative moments that gave rise to the Russian dilemma. The first was Gorbachev's decision to invite military participation in Soviet politics. The second was when Yeltsin acquiesced to a new political system that gave generals a legitimate political presence. The third was when Putin not only failed to press for needed military reforms but elevated numerous high-ranking officers to prominent positions in the federal administration. Included here are Barany's insightful analysis of crisis management following the sinking of the Kursk submarine, a systematic comparison of the Soviet/Russian armed forces in 1985 and the present, and compelling accounts of the army's political role, the elusive defense reform, and the relationship between politicians and generals. Barany offers a rare look at the world of contemporary military politics in an increasingly authoritarian state. Destined to become a classic in post-Soviet studies, this book reminds us of the importance of the separation of powers as a means to safeguard democracy.

The Russian Armed Forces in Transition
The Russian Armed Forces in Transition

Author: Roger N. McDermott

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-03-15

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1136583157

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Although the role of the military in Russia has changed significantly since Soviet times, it continues to exert great influence on Russian politics, economy and society. This book presents a comprehensive overview of current developments related to Russia’s military sector. It considers recent military reforms, personnel issues, the defence industry and procurement, the defence economy, changes in civil-military relations, and the continuing huge economic significance of Russia’s military-industrial complex. It explores difficulties currently faced by the Russian military, including problems of recruitment and leadership; analyses Russian security policy - including in relation to Europe and more widely; and discusses the lessons learned by the Russian military as a result of the recent war in Georgia. The book argues that reform attempts have often been thwarted by bureaucracy, economy, strategy, manpower, weapon systems and leadership. The book concludes by assessing likely future developments.

Russian civil-military relations and the origins of the second Chechen war
Russian civil-military relations and the origins of the second Chechen war

Author: Szászdi, Lajos F.

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2008-08-29

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 0761841784

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This book has relevance for those interested in understanding Russia's course in international relations under the leadership of Vladimir Putin. This book will inform the reader and is especially relevant in light of the events of 2008 in the Caucasus and the war in Georgia, in particular. The author explains the ideology of Neo-Eurasianism, which in turn inspires the policy-thinking of the Kremlin. Also studied is Putin's origins in the KGB, from the previous posts of Secretary of the Security Council and Director of the FSB, and his rise to power in the crucial year of 1999, when he became Russian Prime Minister. The author highlights the continuing trend of appointing high-ranking officers of the Russian intelligence community to senior positions in the government, studying this in the context of Russian civil-military-intelligence relations. The author reached the conclusion, back in 2003, that the members of Russian intelligence hold the reins of power above the civilian and military elements of the Russian government. The author returns to the Kosovo Crisis of 1999, discussing also the motives that led the Kremlin and Putin to invaded Chechnya for a second time in a decade. Parallels can be drawn to the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia and the roots of the Neo-Eurasianist ideology that is behind the two invasions are examined. This book will help the reader understand Russia's current and future distribution of power in the Caucasus, the Balkans and the world at large, Moscow's search for a multipolar world, and its opposition to U.S. hegemony.

Maxime Weygand and Civil-military Relations in Modern France
Maxime Weygand and Civil-military Relations in Modern France

Author: Philip Charles Farwell Bankwitz

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1967

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13: 9780674557017

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This is the first scholarly study of the prewar phase of the French army's development into a disruptive force in national life. A chapter from the portentous 20th-century story of the soldier in politics, it has relevance to contemporary situations in other western societies. The book includes an encyclopedic bibliography.

Reforming Civil-Military Relations in New Democracies
Reforming Civil-Military Relations in New Democracies

Author: Aurel Croissant

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-03-20

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 3319531891

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This book addresses the challenge of reforming defense and military policy-making in newly democratized nations. By tracing the development of civil-military relations in various new democracies from a comparative perspective, it links two bodies of scholarship that thus far have remained largely separate: the study of emerging (or failed) civilian control over armed forces on the one hand; and work on the roots and causes of military effectiveness to guarantee the protection and security of citizens on the other. The empirical and theoretical findings presented here will appeal to scholars of civil-military relations, democratization and security issues, as well as to defense policy-makers.