Developments of the Democratic Control of Armed Forces in Ukraine 2014-2022

The article addresses the issues related to the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and explores its applicability in the times of war in Ukraine. Concretely, authors deal with the case of institutional capacities in the battlefield and define them as collective action enablers to resist and overcome adverse external challenges. DCAF first of all means the civilian control of the military and is said to be particularly important to democracies which emerge from regimes, where the military used to occupy prominent positions. Indeed, attempts to engage into DCAF in Ukraine date back to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986 when officials and the armed forces of Ukrainian SSR were taking steps to monitor and control spread of information in the management of a large-scale emergency. After the declaration of the Ukrainian Independence in 1991 and dismantling of the USSR, reforms of the defense and security sector were undertaken. However, in all these endeavours democratic elements did not take root. It is only since the Revolution of Dignity (2014), that the democratic commitment of strategic elites in Ukrainian political transformations, defense and security sector included, started dominating. Since 2014, despite the Russian occupation of Crimea and armed conflict in Donbas, Ukraine has perceptibly advanced in democratization process and reaffirmed its pro-Western orientation. Up until full-scale war of Russia in 2022, the Ukrainian elite and society engaged into intensive reforms in all sectors, with the defense and security sector being among the most profoundly transformed. The Verkhovna Rada has repealed numerous regulations, dating back to the Soviet times, adopted NATO doctrines and terminology, reorganized the military education and training, increased transparency and military subordination systems. 24 February 2024 Russia‘s war became both a stress test and a window of opportunity for further advancement of DCAF in Ukraine. The war did not completely halt reforms in the defense sector and the instances of the functioning DCAF might be observed even under the adverse conditions of overt acts of warfare. Engaged in the full-scale war, in spring 2022, Ukraine officially submitted the applications for accession to the EU and the NATO. In the first part of the article, we outline the main principles and criteria of the DCAF. Then we present the overview of the evolution of DCAF in Ukraine during 2014-2022 (based on semi-structured interviews). In the third part, we inquire into strengths and weaknesses of Ukrainian of DCAF undergoing the stress test during the full-scale war against Russia. This analysis is based upon the conceptual DCAF model (presented in the first part of the paper) and the empirical insights (presented in the second part of the paper).