The Role Of The National Security And Defense Council Of Ukraine In Political Decision Making Process

Download or read book The Role of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine in Political Decision-Making Process written by Oleksiy Syvak and published by . This book was released on 2003-03-01 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thesis examines the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) and its role in the political decision-making process. The paper analyzes the influence of the NSDC on political process in the Ukraine during the 8 years it has been in existence, all post-Soviet years. In particular, the thesis analyzes the influence of the NSDC and of its Secretaries on the Ukrainian Government. The paper also examines the experiences of leading East- European countries and the United States in resolving issues of national security policy and how these experiences can be applied to the Ukrainian situation. Following an introductory chapter is a chapter that analyzes the experiences of Poland, Russia, and the United States in the institutionalization of their national security policies. Chapter 3 highlights the role that the NSDC assumed during the time of its first Secretary, Volodymyr Gorbulin, during the period 1994 to 1999. During this time the NSDC evolved from a structural component of the President's administration into an organization officially recognized by the Constitution. Chapter 4 analyzes the new role of the NSDC after the Presidential election of 1999, when Yevhen Marchuk was offered the position of Secretary of the NSDC in exchange for his backing of Leonid Kuchma, the new President. The final chapter presents some conclusions by the author, among them that the significance of the NSDC in the Ukranian political system is declining. This change seems to be caused primarily by the political strengthening of the President's power at the expense of other governmental entities. The decline of NSDC's influence also may be attributed to the personal relations between Secretary Marchuk and President Kuchma. (46 refs.)