Civil-military relations is a critical topic in understanding the domestic and foreign policy trajectories of the Russian state. The papers here do not deny that civilian control exists. But they both highlight how highly undemocratic, and even dangerous, is the absence of those democratic controls over the military and the police forces in Russia which, taken together, comprise multiple militaries. These papers present differing U.S. and European assessments of the problems connected with civilian and democratic controls over the possessors of force in the Russian state.

The best recent scholarship on Russian civil-military relations explicitly addresses this issue's importance for both domestic and external security. Thomas Gomart has written that, Through the civil-military relationship the nature of a state's politico-strategic project can be assessed, that is, what is its understanding of the world; what resources does it have available, what is its willingness to modify its international environment. Studying the civil-military relationship also makes clear current modes of power, the sharing of responsibility in security matters, and in certain cases the will to act.

The topic of civil-military relations has high significance for academics, for policy makers, for military commanders, and for serious students of public policy in democratic and other societies. The post-Cold War and post-9-11 worlds have thrown up traditional as well as new challenges to the effective management of armed forces and defense establishments. Further, the present century has seen a rising arc in the use of armed violence on the part of non-state actors, including terrorists, to considerable political effect. Civil-military relations in the United States, and their implications for US and allied security policies, is the focus of most discussions in this volume, but other contributions emphasize the comparative and cross-national dimensions of the relationship between the use or threat of force and public policy. Authors contributing to this study examine a wide range of issues, including: the contrast between theory and practice in civil-military relations; the role perceptions of military professionals across generations; the character of civil-military relations in authoritarian or other democratically-challenged political systems; the usefulness of business models in military management; the attributes of civil-military relations during unconventional conflicts; the experience of the all-volunteer force and its meaning for US civil-military relations; and other topics. Contributors include civilian academic and policy analysts as well as military officers with considerable academic expertise and experience with the subject matter at hand.

Putin's style of leadership has transitioned into another era but there is much still inherited from the past. In the often anarchic environment of the 1990s, the nascent Russian Federation experienced misunderstandings and mis-steps in civil-military relations. Under Boris Yeltsin it has been questioned whether the military obeyed orders from civilian authorities or merely gave lip service to those it served to protect while implementing its own policies and courses of action. Robert Brannon sets forth the circumstances under which the military instrument of Russia's power and influence could be called upon to exert force. Deriving in part from its Soviet past, the author examines how Russia's military doctrine represents more than just a road map of how to fight the nation's wars; it also specifies threats to national interests, in this case the United States, NATO and international terrorism. Against this background of politics and power, the military's influence may reveal as much about politics as it does the military.

"This perceptive and well-informed study highlights the continuity of the Russian (civilian and military) security community's distrust of the outside world, fueled by NATO enlargement. Communism may be dead in Russia, but the obsession with 'threats' continues, rallying the population and keeping security elites in power. This makes Russia an uncomfortable world player to live with. A must read."--Beatrice Heuser, professor and chair of International Relations, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Reading (UK) As Russia reasserts itself on the international stage, the relationship between its civilian and military spheres remains one of the determining factors in the organization of political power. Thomas Gomart's Russian Civil-Military Relations: Putin's Legacy looks beyond traditional dualism between the Kremlin and the military, introducing the role of the security services in Russian power distribution. With the support of the siloviki (security service) and justification through the fight against "international terrorism," Putin worked throughout his administration to reestablish presidential control over the military. As Russia transitions to Dmitry Medvedev's presidency, it is important to not only review the Putin presidency, which has given many of the country's institutions their shape, but also to reach back further into post-communist and Soviet history for an understanding of the realities of today. Russian Civil-Military Relations provides crucial analysis of the nature and evolution of the balance between civilian and military institutions. These relations will continue to influence regime development, security policy, and societal attitudes that build from Putin's Russia to Medvedev's administration and into the future.

The papers collected here represent the Strategic Studies Institute's (SSI) continuing activity to foster dialogue on topical issues in international security among experts from the United States and abroad. These papers are taken from the conference that SSI conducted on January 25-26, 2010, entitled, "Contemporary Issues in International Security," at the Finnish embassy in Washington, DC. This was the second conference that SSI organized, bringing together U.S., Russian, and European experts to discuss important questions in contemporary world affairs. This particular collection is devoted to the question of civil-military relations in Russia, a topic of profound significance for both domestic and foreign policies in Russia.