Democratic Oversight – the Key to a Resilient Legal Framework for Civil – Military Relations

Built on a multi-layered foundation, contemporary legal systems have created their stability by combining the flexibility to adapt to new elements, with the rigidity necessary to preserve essential social values. However, the accelerated transformations within modern-day society pose significant challenges to the carefully constructed balance of these systems and question the resilient nature of elements that until recently seemed irreplaceable. In this context, the paper addresses one of the most dynamic aspects of the activity of military structures, civil - military relations, from the perspective of the set of norms that ensure the functionality of this process. Democratic control of the armed forces, as an additional mechanism for ensuring respect for the rule of law, connects military structures and representative constitutional authorities of the state and provides the latter with prerogatives to supervise the implementation of the state defense function.