ABSTRACT
Romanian military policy has evolved from a faithful imitation of Soviet doctrine and direction to a Romanian version of "people's war." All Romanian teenagers receive preinduction military training. "Units of youth receiving military training" participate with the armed forces and the Patriotic Guards in national defense. The armed forces, in which all Romanians of both sexes are required to serve, play an essential part in the political socialization of youth. Romanian military policy has provided the country with a credible defense, an essential factor in the leadership's ability to pursue national policies which deviate from the bloc norm without eliciting intervention. The November 1978 crisis in Romanian-Soviet relations was only the most evidence of Nicolae Ceausescu's determination to pursue a national military policy, a decision for "factories over guns." One may conclude, therefore, that Romanian military policy in the 1980s will remain essentially that pursued in the 1970s, barring internal upheaval or external intervention.
