Post-Communist Civil-Military Reform in Poland and Hungary: Progress and Problems

Abstract

This article critically analyzes post-Communist Polish and Hungarian civil-military reforms in the context of five issues: (1) the dismantling of Communist-era control mechanisms; (2) the establishment of clear and constitutionally-guaranteed lines of civilian authority; (3) the enactment of necessary legislation, rules, and regulations to put into effect a system of democratic oversight; (4) the reorganization of military structures; and (5) the provision of sufficient resources for military reform and operations. Although both states were sufficiently reformed to allow for their ascension to the NATO alliance in early 1999, this study comes to a more positive overall assessment of Poland's reform efforts because most key civil-military reforms have either been completed or are moving (albeit sometimes quite slowly) in a positive direction. In the case of Hungary, significant progress has also occurred, but the reform program-which got off to a fast start has slowed considerably and may be threatened with reverses by a severe budgetary and procurement crisis that shows few (if any) signs of improving.