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Relevance of Civil Society to the Defense and Security Sector Civil society has become a popular term in political analysis. A significant body of literature and research has developed around the concept, and its key role in consolidating and sustaining democracy is now widely recognized by academics and policy-makers alike. Successive waves of democratization in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe have led experts to view civil society as a crucial agent for limiting authoritarian government, strengthening the empowerment of the people, and enforcing political accountability. It is considered a crucial factor in improving the quality and inclusiveness of governance. Yet the term is often used loosely and with imprecision as a more current replacement for the more general word "society". This is especially so in defense and security affairs, where there has been little research to date that has focused explicitly on the relevance of civil society and the non-governmental domain in general to this particular sector of public policy. The purpose of this article is to describe the concept of civil society and discuss how we think it contributes to good governance of defense and security affairs. We then describe a research program that we are initiating in the context of the Civil-Military Relations Working Group of the Partnership for Peace Consortium to further our understanding of the role of civil society. Civil society refers to voluntary associational groupings in a society, and the public expression of the interests, priorities, grievances, and values around which those associations are based. In other words, people voluntarily form groups to advance their values and interests and to engage in public life outside of the family and the marketplace. Civil society as a sphere is distinct and autonomous from the state, but that does not mean that they are isolated from each other. On the contrary, the term implies the existence of a public that is capable of engaging with state policy and acting to articulate demands and promote interests within the context of civic groups. Civic action is mobilized around values and norms, which in a complex society are likely to be highly diverse. It is sustained by the sharing of information and communication. Civil society organizations (CSOs) serve as channels for expressing the diverse and sometimes contradictory social interests in

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Though Ukraine was among the first successor states of the Soviet Union to create a legal framework for the activities of its intelligence and security community, said framework addressed inherited and unreformed structures. Subsequent reform plans have not led to the success desired by Ukraine's international partners and, we must assume, a majority of the Ukrainian voters and taxpayers. Among the reform demands is also the credible subordination to parliamentary oversight, which, though stipulated by law, has effectively been neutralized by reference to subordination to the President in the same law. Who would want to be controlled by an ever-undecided parliament if a personalized oversight by the President and the expert committee of the National Security and Defence Council is the possible alternative? As a consequence, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) remains subject to much criticism -for the corruption of some of its representatives, for overlapping mandates with other security institutions, and for lack of control other than by itself and the changing presidents and their administrations.