Publication

This paper examines the extent and success of defense reform in Ukraine since independence in 1991. The author argues that Kiev inherited 780,000 military personnel without a ministry of defense, General Staff or the central organs of command and control. There have been two stages of military reform (1991-1996) and (1996-2000) but the State Program of Armed Forces Reform and Development 2001-2005 is the first program designed to implement a new relationship between the armed forces and society. The publication concludes that the dynamics of modernization, stagnation and decay remain precariously balanced.