Civil-Military Relations in Post-Soviet Ukraine: Implications for Domestic and Regional Stability

Ukraine's progress towards a fully functioning democratic, civilian model has been weak. Due to the weakness of the military as a political force in Ukraine, this lack of progress itself does not threaten Ukraine's domestic stability. Instead, of greater concern and potential impact are the absence of significant military restructuring and implementation of Ukraine's military and strategic doctrine as well as the absence of any measure of civil-military control over the internal security forces of Ukraine. Moreover, the arrest of military restructuring impacts fundamentally on regional security as it affects Ukraine's ability and capacity to forestall any military aggression as well as Ukraine's contribution to multinational peacekeeping operations, under either NATO or UN auspices. Ultimately, the lack of progress in democratic civil-military reforms in Ukraine is of greater significance at the regional level than at the national one.