The Army, Society, and Reforms

Abstract

Mikhail Frunze's description of our army as a slice, a copy of society, an observation that became axiomatic in the Soviet period, accurately expresses the armed forces' dependence on social processes. An analysis of the Russian army's present situation convinces one of this anew. Attention to processes within the state's military organism is dictated not only by purely academic and scholarly interest but also by concern for Russia's future and possible ways of leading the country out of crisis. Unless we establish how social processes influence the army, it will also be more difficult to designate steps to reform the armed forces—one of the most urgent tasks in structuring a state within the Russian Federation.