Contemporary Terrorist Challenges and Threats in Europe

This article generally contains two parts. One is a theoretical approach to dealing with the phenomenon of terrorism as well as international terrorism. Within the first part, a unique definition of the concept of security science is given, without which it is not possible to properly perceive or investigate security threats and risks within which terrorism is one of the significant threats. The second part deals with models of terrorist activities with special attention to the webspace and the significant role that terrorists attach to the increasing use of the Internet for their purposes. The theoretical part leads to the conclusion that there are five essential elements whose presence, if detected in one territory or state, indicates the existence of a mechanism that produces or creates new jihad warriors. The paper also gives a unique forecast of the degree of endangerment on the example of a territory, which gives scientists who investigate these threats a new direction of research.

Challenges Posed to Social Youth Organisations in the Fields of Security and Rescue

In Poland, it is possible to observe a lack of comprehensive solutions to the problem related to the co-existence of youth rescue organisations in the system of local security, namely: the solutions which would legalise involvement of such organisations in emergency situations and which would indicate the role that such entities could play in prevention. In the paper presented below, the Author poses the following questions: What are the contemporary challenges and expectations of youth rescue organisations? What activities in the fields of security and rescue could be developed by social rescue organisations to use their potential and to improve the level of security? It is possible to expect that the development of some particular fields of activity will contribute to the improvement in the efficiency of social organisations and the impact they have on the level of local security. It can be achieved by the promotion of pro-social behaviour in the fields of security and rescue among young people, local communities and self-government authorities to form the civil society. In order to meet challenges and expectations of youth rescue organisations, it is necessary to provide young people with broader participation in social organisations, to improve the attractiveness of such entities through systemic and financial support, along with social and education base. To provide a solution to the research problem, the Author has applied the method of a diagnostic survey in the form of expert interviews with people involved into activities undertaken by youth rescue organisations.

The Role of Social Logistics for the National, Economic and Social Security

Logistics continuously expands its application areas. In modern conditions, there is a need to apply logistics in areas not related to its traditional applications such as military and business spheres, resulting in the identification of a third area with the name social logistics. Social logistics aims to introduce a social (human) factor into the systems and to apply logistic principles and methods in solving the problems of society. Social logistics can be defined as a set of actions that ensure the effective functioning of social systems (such as a set of social phenomena, processes and subjects), applying the principles of logistics. For the purposes of this paper, a number of scientific approaches and methods have been applied, such as system approach, comparative analysis, critical analysis, synthesis and others. Social logistics plays an important role in national security, including economic and social security. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of social logistics in enhancing national security, including economic and social security.

National Economic Power. Dynamic Model

The national power can be considered in a static and dynamic aspect as well. This applies to all dimensions of the national power, both military and non-military, including the economic one presented in this article. The national power, treated in a static sense as one of the leading features of the state and estimated over a given period, can only be descriptive. On the other hand, it gains a new dimension in a dynamic sense that consists in the possibility of developing the research into a prognostic area. Therefore, this approach to the issue of the national power has been presented here. The research hypothesis is that on the basis of available statistical data it is possible to construct a verifiable dynamic descriptive model of the national economic power, which enables comparative analyses of the group of selected countries. The research took advantage of statistical methods of selecting variables for linear models and methods of system analysis, including multi-criteria, taxonomic method of comparative analysis. Analyses that have been performed allowed to create a dynamic descriptive model of the national power in the economic sphere. The constructed model was positively verified based on the available figures for the selected group of countries. The conducted calculations suggest that it is possible to use this model for further analyses of the national power in the economic sphere.

Religious Conflict in Iraq and the Operation of Shiite Militias in the Country after the Expulsion of ISIL

The paper deals with the religious aspect of the Iraqi conflict, exploring chiefly the dynamics of the conflict between the country’s Sunni and Shia communities. Should the conflict between the Sunni and Shia of Iraq be religiously motivated, we will find several characteristics, that would clearly demonstrate the religious or sectarian dimension of the conflict. The paper uses the methods of analysis, synthesis as well as the descriptive method. We have found that the conflict between the Shia and the Sunni has been purposefully escalated, firstly by Nouri al-Maliki (whose sectarian politics alienated the Sunni Arabs) and ISIS (which was even criticized by al-Qaeda for being too brutal against the Shia). Further we found that the Iraqi army under Shia command lacked motivation to defend Sunni areas from ISIS. Lastly, it was the PMF militias, forming after a fatwa by a Shia cleric, and bearing references to Shia symbolism in the names of their units. We conclude, that at the current phase, the conflict in Iraq has a strong sectarian dimension, while lacking a coherent Iraqi identity.

Personal Safety and Security Culture – Similarities and Differences

There are briefly presented two trends in security sciences developed in the last 10 years: the issues of security culture and the issues of personal safety. Both approaches to security designate methods of threefold insight into the state of security and ways to improve it for an individual and a group. The subject of the discussion will be a comparative analysis of these two approaches to securitology. The research hypothesis is that the approach focused on personal safety emphasizes the importance of the cultural tradition of an individual or group, while the approach focused on the culture of security raises the importance of appropriate shaping of the security structure. This correspondence clearly refers to the determinants of personal safety. The discussed topic is very important for the development of theoretical securitology, especially in connection with the increasingly topical issues of the so-called multiculturalism in a globalizing world. Determinants of personal safety make it possible to study (also in an empirical way) of the individual and group feelings of security. In this way, the combination of the security culture and the presented concept of personal safety opens the way to the humanization of securitology.

Determining the Level of Security Culture of the Entity Using the Midified Shalom Schwartz Value Model

Each consciously existing entity has its own unique, hierarchical set of values, helping to make decisions and set directions for action. This power is a security culture, also defined as a set of universal values, attitudes and beliefs. The foundation upon which the security culture grows is the three pillars of security – the three energy streams of the security culture. The objective is to estimate the level of the entity’s security culture and present its structure. The determination of the empirical size of a security culture is made by adapting Shalom Schwartz’s value theory and his ten types of fundamental values. The values placed on the Schwartz circle model are aggregated to the appropriate energy streams of the security culture, and this move allows for empirical determination of the level of the security culture of an individual. The obtained results show the structure of energy streams and determine the empirical level of the subject’s security culture. The approach taken shows that the level of security culture is computable.

Geographic Information Systems in Management on the Example of a Traffic Incident with a Chemical

The purpose of the article is to present various adverse events that may occur in connection with the loading, unloading and transport of dangerous substances. The focus was on finding the reasons for their formation and an analysis of the quantity and structure of the goods transported was carried out. It also describes the possibility of using the geographical information system, with particular regard to the risk situation during the transport of such substances.

Threats and Grounds for Dismantling the European Security Architecture

This article deals with one of the priority areas, the area of European security. Based on the literature on the subject and an analysis of the situation in Central and Eastern Europe, the author presents various types of current threats evident in Belarus, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Hungary, as a result of, among other things, societal alienation from the ruling class. The ignoring of their people and lack of tolerance in these countries has provoked a rebellion in society against governments’ exercise of power and approach to the rule of law. By analysing aspects of the threat, the author tries to uncover the motives of governments that are trying to maintain this approach and are ready to sacrifice the health and lives of their citizens.

The Significance of Ontic-Cultural Layer for Personal Safety. The Prospect of Being and Having by Gabriel Marcel

Focusing on trading capital is giving up a certain amount of freedom. What is external, added, and managed, engages the subject in terms of itself, and thus limits him/her. In this way, what is owned, in the process of managing it, somehow uses the one who has it. Reducing human life to manage one resource or another is a soft contemporary form of violence that is growing with the proliferation of computerization, mediatization, and medicalization. This, first of all, causes a threat to personal safety. The article presents a personalist point of view on personal safety, based on a precise analysis by Gabriel Marcel work concerning the relation of the holder to the possessed entity.