Defense institutions

Introduction

The so-called “Revolution of Dignity,” that took place between November 2013 and March 2014 in Ukraine, gave Russia a pretext to seize the Crimea and engage proxy forces in the Donbas to rebel against the new Ukrainian administration. Seen from the point of view of NATO, this is an unprovoked action that threatens the status quo in Europe. It seems therefore normal that thus challenged, prudence would counsel the strongest possible support to Ukraine, to demonstrate resolve and reassure the Alliance’s Eastern flank.

Since Ukraine joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 1994, and especially following the 2014 Euromaidan, the West has been supporting Ukraine in its security sector reform. The long time of the reform design and implementation may cause difficulties in assessing the reform’s progress. It has merit, therefore, to assess the Security Sector Reform in Ukraine in the aspects of its two key variables: governance and effectiveness.

Strategic messaging is ever more important in the age of explosive social media. So much information flows to and through societies, governments and individu­als that any attempt to organize and make sense of the data is welcome for its ability to be consumed. Not all information on the Internet is benign. Some indi­viduals and organizations work to manipulate the information to represent their views. Some go beyond and use information as a tool to persuade. Some gov­ernments weaponize data into propaganda to purposefully harm other nations.

The United States has been in the business of assisting partner nations’ militaries for decades. The original security assistance framework that was first developed in the 1960s, however, has proven insufficient to keep up with the demands of the 21^st century security environment. As such, the broader U.S.

Introduction

“If our neighbours are more stable, we are more secure.” This statement,[1] made by the NATO Heads of State and Government at their 2016 Summit in Warsaw, touches upon the core of NATO’s work on Projecting Stability. However, efforts aimed at “projecting stability” are not easy to contextualize and conceptualize – ‘stability’ may carry different connotations depending on the circumstances.

Transparent and accountable, efficient and effective Defense Institution Building (DIB) is one of the shared values that binds together not only NATO but also NATO’s Partnership Programming. In this way, DIB is also an essential part of defense management and reform.