From open civil war in Bosnia and Georgia to the Russian president's use of military units against an uncooperative parliament, civil-military conflicts in the former USSR and Yugoslavia are increasingly attracting worldwide attention and concern.

This volume brings together fourteen essays that explore the roles of the armed forces in the ongoing struggles for control over the processes of state formation and government in these newly independent countries. Twelve chapters focus on the experiences of particular countries in the region; and introductory and concluding chapters draw out commonalities and differences among the cases, comparing them with one another as well as with post-authoritarian regimes elsewhere in the world.