Economic constraints of defense reform in SEE

Defence reforms in general and building of new military capability in particular affect the national defence environment as much as these exogenous variables affect it. A combination of government economic policies, reduced defence budget ceilings, the projected further decline in defence expenditures and escalating manpower and equipment costs serve to put severe constraints on what armed forces can and can not do in the future. Armed forces depend on the government and parliament to decide what annual amount of money they are to receive from the public purse. The government\u27s approach to the question of how much to spend on defence is a time tested one. Beside the total amount per year which state can reasonably afford for defence, there is another principal issue where levels of defence expenditures are concerned. The broad alternatives of SEE countries to downward pressures on defence expenditures are clear: either “drown down” the number of defence and security commitments or finding ways of achieving more by ways of operational effectiveness with progressively less money and fewer resources