PREFACE
Stepan Sulakshin
This collection of specialists’ comments on Russian laws on the security sector and civil-military
relations is another result of teamwork between the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of
Armed Forces (DCAF) and the Russian Foundation for the Development of Political Centrism.
As an intellectual product resulting from the collaboration of European and Russian specialists with
differing scientific traditions, social and political and legal experience, it is extremely interesting.
Various opinions, points of views, and traditions may be compared, providing a new level of
analysis and, in this case, possibilities of expert support of Russian parliamentarians.
It is a great pleasure to appraise the usefulness of the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of
Armed Forces’ activities for the practical process of Russian reforms. The problematic sphere
encompassed by their efforts includes one of those most critical and significant to the experiences
of various states. It concerns military structuring and safety in all senses and the complete content
of this category. Each country worries about its safety, each country is interested in protection its
residents against external threats, threats of terrorism, threats of imperfect state government and
the phenomena of incompetence, corruption, the prevalence of ideological principles over
balanced, professional criteria in decision-making and in the practice of effective state governance.
These problems are especially sharp in Russia as it passes through a historic period of very quick,
intense, and, at times, unprecedented reforms. Private companies and property laws are being
reformed, as are the political system, state structure, multinational character, of a geographically
large state which remains overburdened with a number of conflicts. The army and special services
are also the subject of reform programmes. Russian society, despite the suppression of gainful
activity for decades, begins to takes its shapes in a number of directions and enlarge the
parameters for a civil society; society has also obtained the possibility of involvement in and
intensified its influence upon national-significant decisions of state bodies and political powers. But
its experience, knowledge, and standing in these processes is poor. Realizing that the Russian
situation is unique, a lot of precedents, recommendations, and advice from foreign partners is not
always applied to the Russian reality: but the usefulness of these contacts and the work of bipartite
expert groups on the problems at hand is, nevertheless, obvious.
The collection is the product of scientific and scientific-practical papers of expert western and
Russian scientists and practitioners. Not all the comments are equivalent, and tend to an academic
style, reflecting subject specialisations and ideological principles of analysis. But the overwhelming
mass of the analysis is constructive, proffers solutions and will undoubtedly be useful for the
practice of Russian parliamentarism. Many mentioned legislative acts have now been perfected,
changed, and amended, and a number of legislative problems are now included on the agenda of
parliamentarians. We hope that experience of mutual expert support of Russian efforts will be
continued further. I would like to thank authors of articles of the collection, both Russian and
foreign, and to appraise highly and to thank DCAF, whose partnership activity in Russia is of a
humanitarian and professional character.
Stepan Sulakshin
Director,
Foundation for Political Centrism,
Moscow
December 2003