| Abstract [eng] |
Civil-military relations as a phenomenon invited a greater attention of academic community only after World War II, as the first attempts to define the best way of civil-military cooperation emerged. The collapse of the socialistic block resulted in the decrease in importance of military roles. The changing global security environment influenced some recognizable changes in modern societies (including Lithuanian) of the democratic world as well. Traditional normative civil-military relations theories could not properly describe the changing manner in communication between society and the armed forces, since the ongoing processes go beyond the framework of the classical understanding about civil-military relations: democratic civilian control and the autonomous military,,professionalism“ thus, the attempt was made to look for new ways and methods to identify the prevailing change tendencies in societies and the armed forces. Lithuanian civil society and the armed forces are not an exception in this respect, thus, the main issue of this research was to discuss the blurring boundaries between Lithuanian civil society and the armed forces. This research paper attempts to prove that Lithuanian armed forces are going through the convergence processes, such as professionalization and civilinization. The process of coalescence of social values into the military sphere results in the decreased autonomy of the armed forces as well as change in traditional civil-military relations. The comparative analysis and a case study of typical civil-military relations provided by C. Moskos and J. Williams was a great background for further analysis of the tendencies of changing civil-military relations. This MA thesis provides the discussion on civil-military relations in respect of the changes in Lithuanian military organization and their probable impact on civil society. What is more, this research aimed at identifying and analyzing the ongoing processes in Lithuanian armed forces in comparison with other NATO member states, discussing the development prospects as well as their relationship with civil society. The research is based on the adopted euristic model which helps to analyze civil-military relations in consideration of functional and socio-political aspects. The main objective of the research is to examine the prevailing tendencies and fundamental prospects in the changing civil-military relations in Lithuania in the context of defense reform and transformation of the armed forces (after 2001). The first chapter describes the theoretical presumptions of the research, also presents the fundamental theoretical background for the analysis of civil-military relations as well as attempts to explain the problems arising because of the change in these relations. Moreover, the chapter provides the analysis of the evolution of military organizations in accordance with significant changes to the international security environment. The second chapter presents the ideal type model for the analysis of the changing armed forces and their relations with civil society in consideration of functional and socio-political aspects. The third part reports on the qualitative inductive research. Referring to the variables defined in the research model, this chapter continues with the analysis of the ongoing processes in Lithuanian armed forces in the context of defense reform and transformation of the armed forces; moreover, the chapter identifies the problematic issues in civil-military relations and analyzes the prospects of cooperation. The Lithuanian case showed some common international tendencies to change in civil-military relations. Society and armed forces have been changed since 1990, because of external factors and participation in international organizations. The convergence process is countinuig and it reveals completely new era in civil - military relations. |
