State Security

Compulsory military service has become very rare over the last 30 years, in the western world. In the past, most countries considered military service as a socialisation platform, given the fact that most of the population was recruited and military units were a "meeting point" for different cultures-because of that the service then was functional as a social integrator. The current research studied changes in social attitude during compulsory military service in Israel, where the society is considered to be essentially divided around ethnical and national issues. This study is based on an analysis of the attitudes of 3200 internet questionnaire participants via social networks in Israel, followed by a U-test of the collected data. Half of the participants were high-school students (average age 17) and half of them discharged soldiers (average age 23). Analysis of the results reveals significant evidence: discharged soldiers tend to be more tolerant then high-school students with regard to other cultures and ethnic origins. A discharged IDF soldier is less afraid of security threats and considers budget prioritisation towards social welfare to be more important than security challenges. These findings show that compulsory military service can still be effective as a social integrator, even in the post-modern world where countries are dealing with migration issues and ethno-national tensions.

This article addresses the question of willingness to defend one's own country and a similar notion of resistance, should Latvia, Lithu-ania and Estonia be attacked. The study principally relies on quantitative data from a dedicated nationally representative survey across all three countries. The data acquired thereof reaffirm findings from previous studies concluding that the highest level of willingness to defend one's own country is in Estonia, while it is lower in Latvia and in Lithuania. Asked if and how respondents would resist in case of an attack, more willingness to resist either non-violently or violently was expressed by respondents in Lithuania, ahead of the number of willing to do so in Estonia and more so in Latvia. Demographic background of the respondents visualized and discussed in the article provides further nuances of both research questions. While situation with the willingness to defend Estonia is relatively comfortable, this should not be treated as a reason for complacency. There is still room for progress within some groups of the society. Meanwhile, valuable lessons could be drawn for policies of Latvia and more so of Lithuania to avert some of the less flattery trends identified in this study.

Aim: The aim of the article is to determine the understanding of the challenges, threats and risks that constitute cognitive factors relevant to the need
to assess the impact of these factors on the state and its security. The achievement of this goal has been guided by the working hypothesis: cognitive
factors relevant to the needs of assessing the state and its security challenges, threats and risks will probably analytically define these concepts through
the complementary use of word formation, induction, philological and intuitive methods.
Design and methods: The scientific problem was addressed, and the working hypothesis was examined, in three stages. First, the author determined
how challenges, threats and risks were approached in the literature on the subject. Then, during the second stage, the author used the methods mentioned
in the hypothesis to formulate realistic, analytical concepts for these terms. Finally, in the third stage, the author developed a deductive model for
evaluating the achievement of national security goals to operationalise and, consequently, verify the established understanding of the terms in question.
Results: The applied research procedure allowed the author to establish the assumed understanding of challenges, threats and risks. As a result,
a challenge to national security is considered a situation in the country or its neighbouring areas, which – if not detected and identified in time, and not
responded to with appropriately selected and arranged activities taken in the right time and at the right place – can transform into threats to the state.
A threat to national security, on the other hand, is a series of events taking place inside and/or outside the country, which undermine its structure and/
or prevent it from fulfilling its functions, which makes it impossible or difficult to achieve:
− the inviolability of the territory of the state, its identity and sovereignty,
− the survival of the nation,
− maintenance of internal order and legal order,
− quality of life and development of the nation.
Finally, the author established that risk is an indicator of the threats or danger to the state that could lead to losses. This risk can be considered to be
the result of the probability of the occurrence of such threats and dangers, and of the likely magnitude of the losses they might cause, as well as the
vulnerability of the entity concerned. This approach to understanding risk allows us to analyse national risks in terms of a measurable value of the risk
vector and its orientation in the three-dimensional Euclidean space.
Moreover, based on own research results, the author developed a graphical model for assessing the achievement of the national security goals.
The model operationalizes the proposed conceptualization of the terms in question, and at the same time directs further research towards the
identification of measurement methods for such factors as risks inherent in the challenges, risks themselves and risks in the assessment of the
effects of such threats.

Objectives: The aim of the article is to examine the role that strategic culture plays in creating and shaping security of the future. Taking account of the purpose of this paper, the main research problem took the form of the following question: To what extent does strategic culture have an influence on shaping security of the future?

Methods: In order to achieve the aim of this paper and solve the main research problem, the following research methods will be applied: method of analysis, synthesis and method of conclusion.The empirical methods facilitate examination of processes with the aim of drawing conclusions. The article uses a research method such as observation.

Results: Strategic culture is not a dogma or a camera through which we can look into the past or the future. It is a tool useful for understanding how and what the circumstances are in which a country defines appropriate measures and goals to achieve its goals regarding security.

Conclusions: Strategic culture can help us to understand the real cultural identity of a particular entity (such as a country or an organisation) and its role in the system of international relations in a better way. Therefore, it can contribute to a better understanding of security policy implemented by the entity and, what is more, an analysis of strategic culture can lead to a better understanding of the opponent's strategic behaviour on the basis of how the opponent defines victory, defeat, loss and suffering.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research paper is to present the history of sanitary aviation in postwar Poland from 1945 up till now. The outcome of the research is a presentation of the 74 year history of restoring aviation as an element of the medical rescue system in postwar Poland.

METHODS: In the course of the research, the following theoretical research methods were used: analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalisation.

RESULTS: It has been proved that due to the great involvement of Polish aviators, the operational capacity of the medical service system was restored in a short period of time, benefitting from the prewar experience and from other dynamically developing countries of Western Europe. The historical facts had a crucial influence on the present make-up of the Aviation emergency Medical Service.

CONCLUSIONS: The formation currently owns modern aircraft and equipment compliant with the global standards of the HEMS helicopter emergency Medical Service.

The goal of this study is to explore the components of defence strategies faced by society in its information environment, and how these strategies are interrelated. This qualitative in-depth case study applied past research and empirical evidence to identify the components of defence strategies in a society's information environment. The data collected was analysed using the Grounded Theory approach and a conceptual framework with the components of defence strategies and the relationships between these components was developed using the Grounded Theory. This study shows that the goal of politically and militarily hostile actors is to weaken society's information environment, and that their operations are coordinated and carried out over a long time period. The data validates past studies and reveals relationships between the components of defence strategies. These relationships increase confidence in the validity of these components and their relationships, and expand the emerging theory. First, the data and findings showed 16 interconnected components of defence strategies. Second, they showed that the political, military, societal, power, and personal goals of the hostile actors carrying out cyber operations and cyber attacks are to weaken society's information environment. Third, they revealed that cyber operations and cyber attacks against networks, information and infrastructures are coordinated operations, carried out over a long time period. Finally, it was revealed that the actors defending society's information environment must rapidly change their own components of defence strategies and use the newest tools and methods for these components in networks, infrastructures and social media.