Abstract
Armed forces, defense ministries, and broader national security structures sometimes resist political accountability and guidance. In other cases, they are penetrated and manipulated by political forces. What explains these variations of "politicization"? Using the case studies of postcommunist Romania and Bulgaria, this article offers the preliminary notion that previous political or economic prominence (in a prior authoritarian system) is a critical variable in answering such questions. Further, without protection or insulation from such politicizing influences that might be offered by a stratum of highly competent experts, national security organizations (including the uniformed military) are much more likely to be politicized either penetrated by political interests or aggressively interjecting military and national interests into the political realm.
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