Security and Defence Quarterly

3-20

Authors: Ryszard Parafianowicz

Dynamic changes in the security environment are forcing us to reflect on the shape of the international order at the end of the second decade of the 21st century. The aggressive policy of the Russian Federation, which is confirmed by the conflict with Georgia in 2008 and the current situation in Ukraine, indicates that the use of military violence in the resolution of international disputes is not a historical category at all. This is of particular importance to the geopolitical location of the Republic of Poland. The length of our land border with the Russian Federation is 210 km, while with Belarus it is 418 km. The above fact has a fundamental impact not only on the public debate on the security of our country and the region, but also, and perhaps most importantly, on the shape of defence policy and the content of planning possible measures to prevent and counteract the escalation of prospective tensions in NATO-Russia relations. Both Russian military doctrine and the opinions expressed by politicians and specialists dealing with military issues and political and military experts indicate that, from the Russian perspective, the Baltic States’ membership of the North Atlantic Alliance and the presence of NATO troops on the territory of these countries, is highly unfavourable. Therefore, there are grounds to believe that countries such as Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, are treated by Russia as natural bridgeheads, convenient for bringing possible strikes against Russia. Therefore, it is possible that blocking communication routes leading to these countries, while cutting them off from the support of allied land forces, may prove to be a key success factor in the situation of a hypothetical armed conflict, aimed not only at depriving these countries of their sovereignty, but also aimed at discrediting the power of the Alliance.

48-73

Authors: Katerina Veljanovska Blazhevska

There is no unique definition of migration nor is a simple classification of migration possible either, because of the existence of multi-dimensional migration criteria such as cause, length, distance, direction, volume, velocity, migratory status etc. The purpose of the paper is to develop significant data that will provide insightful conclusions for the factors that contribute to high migration of youth from Kosovo. The qualitative empirical research is meant to find out the extent to which youth were satisfied with the way of life in Kosovo, what the reasons were for that, and whether that would change their way of life.

100-118

Authors: Andrzej Czop

The author benefitted from the support of the private security sector as the Chief Officer of the City Police. When, after leaving the service, he was the President of the Polish Association of Employers Protection Branch “Małopolska”, one of the basic objectives of his activity was to ensure a high level of functioning of the private security sector as an important component of public security. Optimisation of the use of private security companies to ensure public security and order is one of the basic directions of his practical operation and research conducted by him. In the article, the author discusses the role of the private security sector and the tasks set for this sector. The genesis of security companies, their evolution and development in various countries of Europe and the world is covered. Much attention is devoted to the de-monopolisation of security in Poland, in which the security companies played a special role. The author outlines the most important objectives of private sector development in Poland as a specific type of economic activity. The basic concepts related to the functioning of security companies are explained, exposing their priority task, which is the protection of facilities, areas and equipment important for the functioning of the state. The author shows that the current level of terrorist threats implies the need for greater involvement of security companies in providing security to facilities constituting the critical infrastructure of the state. The role of specialist armed security formations in this area is highlighted. In the conducted research process, a positive answer to the main question is given, demonstrating that security companies are currently an important element of the public security system in Poland, and their use in this area should be constantly strengthened.

3-19

Authors: Dorota Domalewska

The problem of increased migration and integration of migrant children in schools has become a serious challenge for Security Education, especially the question of how to teach increasingly varied groups of students and whether students that come from culturally contrasting groups differ in their preferred learning style. This study sets out to analyse how students of various cultural backgrounds approach learning tasks, which is of utmost importance nowadays given that modern schools face the challenge of educating culturally diverse students. To this end, the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) was administered to 450 Thai students in a Thai university. Th e correlation between the learning approaches and individual differences (age, GPA and major) was assessed. Then, the results of the study were compared with the results of similar studies carried out in different cultures. The results show that the students scoring higher on the deep approach have the highest academic performance, whereas the students who approach the learning material strategically achieve the lowest learning outcomes. Furthermore, the Thai students did not differ significantly from their western peers (Norwegian, Egyptian, Portuguese and British); however, their results differed from the students from China, who generally scored lower on all subscales of the ASSIST scores. Thus, the findings of the study prove that the integration of migrant children can be highly successful because both migrant and host society students adopt similar approaches and strategies that strive for academic excellence.

40-51

Authors: Nikolay Todorov Dolchinkov

After the major accidents in “Chernobyl” NPP, located on the territory of present-day Ukraine, and then in the USSR in April 1986, in Bulgaria, as well as in most European countries a lack of systems for a continuous measurement of gamma radiation was reported, which have to provide reliable real-time information on radiation status. Consequently, in the European Union, construction of automated systems for continuous monitoring of gamma radiation has begun. Observations on the state of the radiation background in Bulgaria are carried out in parallel in two ways. A serious problem can cause people to cross a state border in random unregulated places and not at a checkpoint.

75-88

Authors: Grzegorz Pietrek

Crisis management, civil protection and civil defence are terms which are used every day by theoreticians and practitioners. Are they really diff erent or are they synonyms? Using various research methods (analysis of expert literature, analysis of legal acts, comparison, synthesis and reasoning) in the following article, the author makes an attempt at providing answers to such questions. Th e article also presents the author’s opinion on the future of the above-mentioned systems, indicating that with some modifi cation and legal regulations, it would be possible to develop a uniform system which would be able to function effi ciently in crises, emergency situations, during armed confl icts or in a time of war, providing a proper level of management to all the operations involving civil protection and rescue services.

3-20

Authors: dr Milena Palczewska

Security studies are one of the disciplines included in the area of social sciences. A subject of security studies research is modern safety systems in terms of military and non-military actions and their functioning at different organisational levels. These systems include the activities of the institutions of a state, the government and the local government, businesses, and community organisations. Research on the discipline should be used to create theoretical bases and the development of international and national security systems, operating systems in the area of security. The aim of the article is to show the relationship between polemology and security studies. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, polemology is dependent on security studies, in this regard.

38-53

Authors: Florin Diaconu

The text starts by briefly exploring the present strategic situation on NATO’s Eastern rim. In a situation clearly dominated by sharply increased Russian aggressiveness, and by the fact that Russia has already made several attempts directly aimed at shaping, by force, a new regional and continental balance of power (see war against Georgia, in 2008, the annexation of Crimea, in 2014, and an extensive set of military actions against Ukraine), Russian plans and actions are legitimately worrying NATO and, above all, the small or medium-sized countries on the Eastern border of the North Atlantic Alliance. Starting mainly in 2014, Russian aggressiveness generated some significant reactions within NATO, including the political decision to increase defence budgets and deploying (mainly by rotation) military forces belonging to Western member states in the directly threatened countries. These countries (the three small Baltic republics, Poland and Romania) are also strengthening their defensive capabilities, buying new weapons systems, and by hosting or organising NATO defensive exercises. But all these deterrents are costly, and implementing them is time-consuming. It is for these reasons that the article examines the political- strategic necessity of implementing national policies aimed at quickly generating and consolidating potent popular militias. These militias, which are an obvious embodiment of a very strong political will at national level, might be, if properly used, an extra significant deterrent, directly telling Putin’s regime it has no real chance of winning a quick and cheap victory, if it behaves aggressively against states on the Eastern rim of NATO. At this very moment, more than ever before (at least for the almost 30 years since the end of the Cold War), NATO is confronted with the openly aggressive foreign policy, strategic plans and strategic actions of the Russian Federation.

85-107

Authors: Paweł Madej

The article explores the issue of foreign language teaching using commercially available new technology tools that are becoming more and more active in the everyday life of the learner and the teacher, especially in the military sector. Interactive teaching has become an integral part of the process of learning and teaching the language. Interactive ICT education is a modern and effective form of education. It maximises students’ commitment and activity and gives them the opportunity to choose their own paths of learning and development, tailored to their abilities. By participating in the classes, students develop a learning style similar to the research process that improves teaching effectiveness. Using electronic information resources requires the use of modern IT tools, information and multimedia techniques. Experimental research into the effectiveness of information technology in a military school education has demonstrated that the use of these technologies is conducive to: high efficiency in the transmission of didactic content and skills by combining education and entertainment in one act, enabling simultaneous activation of several perceptual channels simultaneously. The learning process takes into account the individual pace and degree of real autonomy of learning foreign languages ​​in an active and creative way, increasing the motivation of students to develop the learner’s cognitive abilities. It can also contribute to national safety to a great extent.

3-20

Authors: Nikolay Nichev

Social security and social entrepreneurship are subject to special attention from the European Commission (EC), particularly in recent years. This is due to their potential to find solutions to society’s problems related to the creation of sustainable jobs, facilitating social and occupational integration, provision of social services and improving the quality of life, including the fight against poverty and social exclusion. The current paper analyses the main strategic and policy documents supporting social security and social entrepreneurship development in Bulgaria.

35-50

Authors: Radosław Bielawski, Aleksandra Radomska

One form of activity in cyberspace is the information battle. One of the proposed definitions will define it as a negative co–operation in the sphere of information acquisition, information distortion and information defense, where each side of the action is subordinated to the antagonistic side of the other. It leads to the achievement of political objectives and is aimed at overthrowing the systems of the state responsible for the state of its security. It is important that this condition is at a high, or at least acceptable, level. To ensure this level, it is important to define cybersecurity fighting models that are adequate for the threats and to determine their impact on the level of national security risk in cyberspace. Literature on the subject contains many models of cyberwarfare information that have been shaped in recent years. However, there is no assessment of the adequacy of these models for the risks and risks associated with national security threats. It should be noted that information security itself, as part of national security, is variable. New threats are emerging and, at a very high rate and with high activity in cyberspace, they are capable of destabilising the security of key state administration bodies, military facilities and other important state– run infrastructures. It should be emphasised that existing cyberspace fighting information models are not universal and cannot be used for any type of threat to national security. They need to find, organise and evaluate those that would be the most appropriate not only for national security threats but also for geopolitical determinants. Assumptions for the research and its results are a noticeable increase in the number of cyberattacks, some of which are important from the point of view of national security – the military system and critical infrastructure elements of the state. The following subject of the research was adopted in the article – models of information fight, related to threats to national security coming from / to cyberspace. The purpose of scientific research is to define models of information combat and to determine the suitability and evaluation of these models for the purpose of evaluating the risks of national security threats. Identifying the subject and objectives of the research led to a general research question: What appropriate models of information fight in cyberspace can be defined and used for the risks of national security threats? The research method applied theoretical methods (analysis, synthesis, generalisation, abstraction, inference, analogy and comparison) as well as the empirical method of dialogue and the method of participant observation.

69-90

Authors: Magdalena El Ghamari

The fight that Europe and the West must wage against jihadist terrorism will take some time, but if we live up to our values of integration and democracy, we will come out of it soon. As Giovanni Falcone, the Italian judge killed by the Mafia, once said about the Mafia: “It is a human phenomenon, and as all human phenomena has a start and an evolution, it will have also an end”. Jihadis have been using Twitter at least since 2010, with the Shabaab joining the site in December 2011, but never before to this extent. One early adapter of Twitter, the Afghan Taliban, began to establish their social media presence in December 2010, through which they issued brief bulletins about their actions and alerts for forthcoming communiqués. Many of the most prominent jihadi groups have followed the same path, including the Shabaab al-Mujahideen, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The content of these Twitter accounts has tended to closely mirror material released to jihadi forums. For example, the Afghan Taliban may post the text of a communiqué to their website, to a jihadi forum, and to the Twitter account of one of their spokesmen. Mirroring jihadi groups, elements of the online jihadi community have also migrated to social media sites, with prominent forums such as Shumukh al-Islam and Ansar al- Mujahideen English Forum creating Twitter accounts to publicise notable releases and discussions. Concurrently, many individual jihadis and jihadi supporters have joined Twitter, enthusiastically circulating propaganda among themselves and promoting it to potential recruits. Yet, the benefits conferred by social networking come with a substantial cost: social networking platforms can sow great confusion if known official accounts are deleted and re-established or if there are multiple accounts claiming to represent a specific jihadi group. In order to reach the new official accounts, followers must be able to distinguish the legitimate social media accounts of jihadi groups from non-authenticated users, which is a level of ambiguity that is not found on jihadi forums.