Title

The post-communist Russian military and civilian control: An explication and analysis of political crises, April 1993 to October 1994

Date of Completion

January 1996

Keywords

History, European|Political Science, General|Political Science, International Law and Relations

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

The Russian Armed Forces will almost certainly play a key role in Russia's political future. Events in 1993 and 1994--the April 1993 referendum, the October 1993 crisis, the December 1993 legislative elections, and the 1994 military budget debate--indicate that the Russian military is not a politically interventionist organization, despite high politicization rooted in the Soviet era. Its leaders and officer corps, while truly worried about the fate of Russia, the armed forces, and their personal circumstances, are inhibited from intervention through a combination of professionalism, fear, disunity, and political values. A military figure who emerged as a key political figure in this period is retired General Aleksandr Lebed.^ The military's inhibition is eroding, and a key dynamic in Russia's political future will be the interaction between the erosion of the inhibition against intervention and events, such as political and economic disarray and military disintegration, which are impelling military intervention. ^

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