Abstract
The world has been stunned since 1989 by the speed with which the countries of Eastern Europe abandoned four decades of Marxist-Leninist rule and moved into Western-style democracy and capitalism. Although the process of transition was, of course, delicate, it seems that very often economic and ethnic issues have overshadowed one of the most important political challenges faced by the new democratic regimes, that is to say, considering Eastern European history, the issue of military intervention in government. Generally speaking, it seems difficult to affirm that the military can be completely a-political since it is one of the main arms of the nation state. One of the roles of the military is to protect the survival of the state against external threats. For that, it needs to understand and be aware of complex political factors.
