ABSTRACT
The pursuit of democratic control, modernisation and NATO integration created a broad range of stresses and strains within the post-communist Romanian army. The long-term reform of acquisitions and property management (APM) in Romania and the 1999 crisis over the internal use of the military demonstrate the various factors involved in the actual exercise of democratic civilian control during fundamental military transformation. Long-term reform in APM highlights the issues of institutional and structural transformation, transparency, professionalism, personnel management and budgeting and planning reform – all central aspects of democratic control. The 1999 crisis over internal use of the military underscores the interplay of tradition, legitimacy, legality and public opinion in civil-military debates over the proper role for the military. Both processes occurred against a backdrop of extensive military downsizing from more than 320,000 personnel in 1989 to 120,000 in 2003, with corresponding active service peacetime army cuts from 270,000 to 90,000 during the same period. In 2001 alone, over 4,000 senior officers were made redundant and the number of general officers reduced from 440 to 90. Within this context of wide-ranging simultaneous change, divisions appeared within the officer corps and between civilian officials and the uniformed army.
