Democratic Control over the Armed Forces in Lithuania

Abstract

The concept of civil control over the military is complex and multifaceted. It is especially important to understand how the civil control is implemented in practice. In this paper, the analysis mainly focuses on the current state of the democratic civil control over the Lithuanian Armed Forces (LAF) and the civil-military relations. The introductory part gives a short overview of the development of relations between the Armed Forces and the society in independent Lithuania. Special attention is given to the negative effects of the military coup in 1926 on the civil-military relations. The changing status of the Armed Forces around the world and its theoretical and practical implications are also outlined. The first part of the paper discusses constitutional and legal basis of the civil control over the military and the institutional structure of the National Defence System. The authors in turn explicitly tackle the shortcomings of the executive chain of command and control over the Armed Forces and the parliamentary oversight of activities of both the executive authorities and the armed structures. The analysis rests on the assumption that despite the creation of the legal base (the Law on the Basics of National Security, the National Security Strategy, other legal acts), the practice of the democratic civil control is not fully crystallized and incontestably embedded in the Lithuanian political system. The authors also draw attention to the insufficiently effective parliamentary oversight of national defence institutions. The second part of the paper discusses the relationship between the civil control over the military and the Lithuanian defence and foreign policy, building on the assumption that civil authorities have full control over foreign policy while the military retain some autonomy over certain professional matters of defence policy. Attention is drawn to the agreement of the parliamentary parties on defence policy priorities. The authors note the influence of cooperation with NATO countries on the development of the LAF in accordance with Western standards. However, the authors differentiate between the requirements of the membership in NATO and the EU with regard to Lithuanian defence policy. The final part of the paper “The Armed Forces and Society” in more detail discusses the current civil-military relations in the country. The importance of the publicity of Lithuanian defence policy guidelines and the activities of the LAF is emphasized. The authors argue that crisis relief operations should be seen as an indispensable part of the activities of the LAF in peacetime. The special role of non-governmental organizations is also noted in the development of civil-military relations. The role of the media is considered to be positive despite some shortcomings of public information about national defence.