The disappearance of bipolarity causes essential mutations in the international security environment, which highlights the need to rethink the defence concept. The analysis of new risks and threats ...to international security has led to a new perception of it and has imposed a new orientation in the field of defence. The formation of new partnerships and alliances greatly reduces the likelihood of a conflict between members, which contributes to supporting the common interest of countries to maintain and strengthen international peace and security. All countries of the world are, in principle, members of at least one regional or intergovernmental organization. Although traditionally regional organizations have been set up on the basis of political, economical or environmental objectives, they have also entered security in recent decades and have started to develop their own capabilities to prevent conflicts and support peacekeeping operations or post-conflict construction of states
The article deals with the issue of civil preparedness for the state defence. Authors consider the civil preparedness as an integral part of the comprehensive approach to ensuring the defence of the ...state and the formulation of a defence strategy. The current dynamics and predictions of the development of the security environment in recent years require an approach change. The article has the ambition to contribute to the professional discussion to strengthen preparedness and increase readiness of citizens to take over their legally defined role in ensuring the defence of the state in a case of need.
The Japanese public has been assumed to possess a deeply ingrained aversion toward the acquisition of nuclear weapons. We employ a survey experiment to ascertain whether this aversion is ...unconditional or may erode in the face of hypothetical deterioration in Japan's security situation, and in particular a hypothetical withdrawal of the US security-nuclear umbrella, increased North Korean nuclear weapons testing activities, and movement by South Korea toward the attainment of a nuclear arsenal. We find that the Japanese nuclear aversion may come under stress in the face of such developments. Additionally, we find that the elasticity of Japanese attitudes with respect to the nuclear option in the face of external security deterioration may be associated with an important individual-level demographic characteristic, namely, gender.
There is a large interest in biofuels in India as a substitute to petroleum-based fuels, with a purpose of enhancing energy security and promoting rural development. India has announced an ambitious ...target of substituting 20% of fossil fuel consumption by biodiesel and bioethanol by 2017. India has announced a national biofuel policy and launched a large program to promote biofuel production, particularly on wastelands: its implications need to be studied intensively considering the fact that India is a large developing country with high population density and large rural population depending upon land for their livelihood. Another factor is that Indian economy is experiencing high growth rate, which may lead to enhanced demand for food, livestock products, timber, paper, etc., with implications for land use. Studies have shown that area under agriculture and forest has nearly stabilized over the past 2–3 decades. This paper presents an assessment of the implications of projected large-scale biofuel production on land available for food production, water, biodiversity, rural development and GHG emissions. The assessment will be largely focused on first generation biofuel crops, since the Indian program is currently dominated by these crops. Technological and policy options required for promoting sustainable biofuel production will be discussed.
Since the 1960s many democracies and prosperous authoritarian states have abolished national military service but in recent years that trend has been reversed in several European states - owing ...primarily to the changing security environment - and, more surprisingly, in Arabia. Three Gulf Cooperation Council states, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates recently introduced conscription for their armed forces. Although this development may be explained in part by emerging external security challenges, this paper argues that the primary explanatory factors are intraneous: socioeconomic reasons, military-strategic motives, and political considerations. The article contends that the most important objective of the Gulf governments that introduced conscription is nation-building, that is, to deepen the relationship between citizens and the state.
The purpose of this article is to eliminate methodological discrepancies in the definition of the problem of “hybrid” use of force and the possibility of using this construct when interfering in the ...internal affairs of states. In any conflict situation, the behavior of states in moving towards their national goals can be explained through how they do combine and synchronize (as it is often defined at the present time — «hybrid») the use of means of compellence and coercion available to them. In general, conceptually «hybrid war» can be described as “the synchronized use of multiple instruments of national power, specially selected to obtain mutually reinforcing effects on specific vulnerabilities across the entire spectrum of social processes. The substance of the modern security environment has led to an increase in the number of areas of conflict of interests of actors, the complexity and dynamism of conflicts, and the unpredictability of their outcomes. The formation of the practice of attribution of international responsibility, and the development of the international institutions supporting it, took place gradually and, ultimately, led to such a development of the international security environment, which made an appeal to «hybridity» to promote national interests in the process of political competition of social groups or individuals with divergent interests for power inevitable. The problem of terminology is one of the main obstacles to a clear understanding of the operation of the «hybridity» construct in political competition. The active use of the definition «hybrid» by propaganda in combination with the terms «war», «threats», «hostilities in the gray zone», «operations», «tactics», «competition does not turn into a state of war» political discourse, since these terms are almost never linked to the definition of the desired state of international relations by the state leadership. And if we are talking about the outcome of the collision of interests of actors in competition or conflict, then this desired result is «historically» defined by the term «victory». Thus, the definition of the substance of «victory» is a necessary initial point to onset analyzing the possibilities of turning to any of the instruments of national power in a «hybrid» confrontation.
By applying the “safety atmosphere” measurement theory to Chinese management companies engaged in road transportation, a corporate and individual safety risk assessment system was established that is ...consistent with the management and cultural climate in China, thereby reducing the driving safety risk of truck drivers. The system realizes the safety risk assessment of enterprises, fleets and individuals in the form of test scales by constructing a structural model of the enterprise safety atmosphere, including the management, communication, and supervision of enterprises, fleets, and individuals. The safety climate was modeled using a two-level framework, at the organizational level and fleet level, and three dimensions of test items for each level were obtained by exploratory factor analysis. The three dimensions of safety management, safety supervision, and safety priority at the organizational level, and the three dimensions of positive communication, safety awareness, and self-discipline at the fleet level, respectively, passed a valid factorial test (p < 0.01). Finally, the validity of the system evaluation results was verified by relying on the actual in-vehicle monitoring data and accident records of the corporate transportation fleet. The results show that the total test scores at the organizational level and the fleet level are significantly correlated with their driving risk behaviors, and both are linearly and negatively correlated with the number of accidents per thousand kilometers. This indicates a high degree of consistency between the system’s test results and actual risky accidents.
State security policy is not created in a vacuum. In general, policy‑making is affected by external and internal variables and influences on the security environment as well as by responses to all ...these factors. Political decision‑making is another significant intervening variable. The aim of this study is to define the security environment of the Visegrad countries in both its narrow and broader senses. To this end, I consider common factors that have affected - and continue to influence - all four countries in order to reveal and evaluate the policy development processes in these states up to the present day. My methodology relies on case studies that trace the security policies of each of the Visegrad countries since the end of the bipolar standoff. The comparison in my conclusion highlights significant challenges now affecting the security policies of all these countries including defence budgets, the crisis in Ukraine, the position of EU member states and growing nationalism and extremism.
The safety and security is one of the key areas of interest for society and especially for organizations. Several dozen kinds of safety and security exist today. The organization must provide several ...kinds of security at the same time. Physical security, information security, occupational health and safety, fire protection and others are among the kinds of security provided. These kinds of safety and security usually exist independently, that causing problems. Discrepancy, greater complexity, staffing and financial costs are among those problems. Converged security is a possible solution. Converged security represents the integration of compatible kinds of safety and security. As a rule, physical security, cybersecurity and operational safety integrated into converged security within the organization. Converged security integrates separate data and events into a single unit, enabling a better understanding of the security situation. At the same time, it enables faster resolution of security breaches. Introducing converged security in an organization requires a good understanding of the security environment in which the reference object is located. Several ways of representing a security environment in the form of a model exist at present. The article describes how to create an organization's security environment model. It considers the conceptual model to be the most appropriate. This model allows a deeper analysis of the security environment. The article is a contribution to the development of theory of safety and security.
PDF
