ИСКУШЕЊА ВОЈНО-ЦИВИЛНИХ ОДНОСА И ПОСЛЕДИЦЕ ПО ОРУЖАНЕ СНАГЕ
TEMPTATIONS OF THE CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS AND THE CONSEQUENCES ON THE NATIONAL DEFENSE

Author(s): Mile Bjelajac
Subject(s): History, Military history
Published by: Institut za strategijska istraživanja
Keywords: military-civil relations; state policy; Army of the Kingdom of Serbia; Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia; Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Summary/Abstract: Temptations within the Civil-Military nexus is a traditional one rather than occasional. This paper highlights several issues that are often out of sight of political decision-makers, but also of the general public. Some of these issues are of crucial importance for the security of the country. The question of all questions is how much time does a country realistically have to solidly prepare for crisis situations, impending danger? How do assessments of security challenges influence a development of institution (military), training and professionalization plans? Historical experience cannot be a complete recipe, but it is a warning. How many politicians understand the importance of the military in conducting successful diplomacy? The military, as an expert factor that assesses the security situation, often cannot comply with the civilian factor with its views and proposals. The civilian factor in democratic societies is often guided only by short-term interests, and the military elites bear permanent responsibility if the state meets events unprepared and an ultimatum, sanctions, or breakdown comes. For military professionals, there remains a permanent challenge to advice civilian top of how and when to translate a peacetime military formation into a wartime one, how to move from a school template to a real war situation, and how to develop the ability to adapt. In an evaluation process of particular Military, it is worth to question how it creatively (or not) use other military’s most recent experiences in the absence of its own. Of no less importance is a firm insisting by military and the defense ministers, on buying modern armament on time and developing domestic military industrial complex. The Serbian and Yugoslav experience on display shows many examples that support the thesis that civil-military were not harmonious in many critical occasions. On the part of civilian side one can list several personalities (Ilija Garasanin, Nikola Pasic, Milan Stojadinovic, Josip Broz Tito) that understand well importance of military for any diplomatic endeavor, especially for the deterence. The monarchs in the Serbian past also understand well this traditional necessity. The same remark could not go to some other highranking politicians even in the last, very turbulent decades. On the part of top military brass one can spot different attitude among the generals and ministers. Some, fully aware of their sensitive responsibilities for the future of the state, firmly insisted in behalf of defense interests and displayed grim future if the parliament and government does not take it in consideration. They even offered their resignation on the post. However, there were those in whole period who have chosen to obey for the sake of their career any political decision whatever the final consequences would be. In this paper we put emphasis on numerous examples of how even historians are inclined to misjudgment motives of military in the past, whereby using ideological clue. On the contrary, we put in the foreground the real motives for the actions of the military leadership and the army, as well as the objective circumstances that prevented modernization and military reforms in spite of good will.We presented historical examples from the past of Serbia and Yugoslavia that suggest the importance of the time factor when it comes to procurement of materials from abroad. Once it was about the French cannon 75 (1901), and once it was anti-aircraft missiles S/300 (1998). In the essence it is the same story. The examples of interwar period bore the same nature, too.We drew attention to the fact that the acquisition of the latest military technology is related to political ties and the issue of alliances. The limited scope of this work does not allow for a wider citation of examples, but we refer to our earlier works in which this is listed.

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