A regime for the democratic control of armed forces exists in the OSCE area (which stretches from Vancouver to Vladivostok) through a "Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security" (1994). This instrument, which links civil-military relations to human rights and international humanitarian law, has no counterpart in other security organizations. Intruding into an area of state power hitherto considered a sanctum sanctorum, it commits the OSCE member states to a regular exchange of information on the status of the democratic control of their armed forces, as well as on such issues...