Legal and Social Protection for Soviet Servicemen: A Reality or Mere Declaration.

摘要

After Mikhail Gorbachev began the process of reform in the Soviet Union in 1985, virtually every aspect of Soviet life was affected in some way. Military reform has been an important part of the process. While greater attention has been focused on the larger issues, such as the size and the nature of the Soviet armed forces in future years, there has been considerable discussion about the adverse day-to-day conditions under which most servicemen live and work and what to do to change them. The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss in some detail the key problem areas faced by soldiers and officers in their daily lives and the current efforts by the Soviet government to correct a number of them. Further, despite considerable uncertainty, the likelihood of the success of these corrective measures is also assessed in this paper. Care has been taken to approach this examination and analysis from the Soviet perspective, rather than from that of an outsider looking in. To that end, the sources of information and opinions relied on have been almost exclusively Soviet, as made available in the print media. The new openness of glasnost over the last several years has provided a rare opportunity to examine the Soviet view of the nature and extent of their serious problems and what they believe they must do about them through increased social and legal protections.