CIAO DATE: 05/2008
April 2001
Austrian National Defence Academy
Foreword
The PfP Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes
finds its roots in a proposal by US Secretary of Defence Cohen at the
meeting of the Ministers of Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership
Council on 12 June 1998. The Consortium aims primarily at strengthening
the institutional co-operation between the 44 Euro-Atlantic Partner
Countries. In this way, a higher level of professionalism and
efficiency can be reached in the fields of training and education of
both soldiers and civil servants.
Within the framework of the "Washington Summit" in April 1999, the PfP
Education and Training Programme was welcomed by the governments of
NATO and EAPC countries. It is based upon three initiatives, namely the
"PfP-Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes",
the "PfP Simulation Network" and the "Cooperative Network of PfP
Training Centres". Their main efforts centre on joint civilian and
military training and education on the national security-political and
strategic levels of planning with an aim of strengthening
multinationality. In this network between professionals, scientists and
experts, substantial exchange of information can take place on various
levels.
Next to the six Working Groups (Curriculum Development, Publications,
Information Technology, Research, Simulations, Advanced Distributed
Learning) and the Secretariat Working Group, six new Working Groups
were founded at this meeting (Military History, Digital Library,
Lessons Learned, European Security and Defence Identity, Crisis
Management in South-East Europe, PfP Training Centres). The Working
Group "Crisis Management in South-East Europe" is headed by the
Institut für Internationale Friedenssicherung of the Austrian National
Defence Academy (IIF/LVAk).
As head of the Institute, I would like to stress the enormous
securitypolitical relevance of the publication: Austria understands her
role within the Working Group as providing a firm basis for dialogue on
matters that have been a pivot of European politics during the last
decade. "Civil-Military Relations in South-East Europe. A Survey of the
National Perspectives and of the Adaptation Process to the PfP
Standards" combines papers by distinguished research fellows and
experts from the region, above all from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Within the publication, an overview
over the common interests and differences within the civil-military
structures in the South-East European region will provide ample space
for further academic discourse.
The unique character of the Consortium Working Group on South-East
Europe finds its aim in bringing together military and civilian
research institutions and academies concerned with security politics
from the region. Through the improved access to information, academies
and institutions will be able to improve the efficiency of their
training.
Security-political institutions are being offered the chance of
channelling the results of their research directly into the educational
system. This publication might help to provide all participants of
Consortium Working Group as well as institutions and experts not
directly participating in the PfP process with access to the same
spectrum of information from - sometimes - diverging national
viewpoints.
In accordance with this basic concept the Working Group aims at
furthering the unique academic dialogue that has been created between
its participants at the workshops in Reichenau in 2000 and 2001 with a
perspective of improving the coherence within the Euro-Atlantic
strategic community.
Finally I want to thank all authors for their efforts to complete a
unique study that will be both informative for all interested in this
issues and helpful for the co-operative relations of the countries from
the region. Special thanks should go to Prof. Dr. Plamen Pantev who did
a tremendous work as the editor.
The support of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed
Forces and the PfP-Consortium in this endeavour has been decisive.
Col. Mag. Gustav E. Gustenau
Resource link: Civil-Military Relations in South-East Europe: A Survey of the National Perspectives and of the Adaptation Process to the Partnership for Peace Standards [PDF] - 865K