CIAO DATE: 10/2014
Volume: 13, Issue: 2
December 2013
Aviation in NATO's Expeditionary Operation in the Context of Alliance's Strategic Concept
Tadeusz Zieliński
The Alliance’s Strategic Concept as a formal document is a statement in which NATO points out political and military resources and the means of gaining assumed goals. It re-defines basic tasks and rules, determines main features of the new security environment, displays full-scale approach to the collective security and constitutes the background for future reforms and transformations of its member’s armed forces. In the new Alliance’s Strategic Concept the need of engaging NATO out of its border lines, in order to prevent particular threats, is clearly outlined. It forces the expeditionary feature on the Alliance and therefore the respective abilities are required. Those abilities focus on carrying out expeditionary operations; hence one of the leading aspects will be the use of aviation. The paper consists of two principal parts. The first part focuses on the analysis of current NATO’s Strategic Concept in a context of leading its expeditionary operations beyond the area of its responsibility. Attention was drawn upon the essential problems with implementation of expeditionary operations in the future. The second part gives us characteristics of the aviation as one of the key tools in Alliance’s expeditionary operations. The key requirements which the aforementioned forces need to fulfil were presented, as well as the estimated scope of the use of aviation in typical expeditionary operations.
Information Revolution, Military-Technical Revolution, or Revolution in Military Affairs?
Jakub Fučík, Zdeněk Kříž
The article deals with the issue of Information Revolution (IR), Military-Technical Revolution (MTR) and Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). Since 1980s it is possible to identify changes in military- strategic dimension which are associated with these concepts. On the other hand, their nature is often confused. The aim of this article is to provide detailed conceptualization of IR, MTR and RMA. First, we analyse the development of debate about these concept which provide initial insight into the formation and establishment of these phenomena. Then, we examine all three concepts in terms of their common and different features. Identification of these characteristics should help to more accurately distinguish among IR, MTR and RMA. This article seeks to contribute into the debate about these concepts and help to precisely classify changes in military-strategic dimension.
Environmental Security: conceptual framework proposal for applications in the Czech Republic
Svatava Janoušková, Tomáš Hák, Eliška Lorencová, David Vačkář
This article aims to provide an integrated overview of the environmental security concept. Moreover, the article frames interpretation of environmental security in the historical context and also provides information regarding current understanding of this concept in environmental security studies. Objective of this article is to propose a conceptual framework of environmental security that cover all relevant environmental security areas and provides comprehensive overview. Conceptual framework of environmental security in the proposed conception contains four main components: energy security, raw material security, ecological and biological security and dimension of traditional security. In addition, purpose of this article is to establish a conceptual framework that can be applied in decision-making processes and assist in design of appropriate strategies concerning environmental security issues.
Iveta Ptáčníková
This text aims to analyse the safety of women in armed conflicts related to sexual violence. The article is based on the Feminist Theory in International Relations, which points out the preconceptions of the traditional theories in International Relations, and tries to make women visible as social, economical and political subjects in the field of international politics. This concept uses the perspectives ingnored by the traditional theories in International Relations. In the context of theory assumming that the violence is conditioned by gender, this article will present the feminist discourse of security and masculinity in the context of sexual violence. Using the introduced perspectives, this article will outline sexual violence in armed conflict, including the reasons for this.
Caucasus Emirate: Basic analysis of islamic insurgent structure in Northern Caucasus
Tomáš Šmíd
The submitted paper discusses the organization Caucasus Emirate, which is currently the most distinctive non-state armed actor in the North Caucasus region. The organization considers itself to form a state structure, however, this article treats it as a rebel Islamist structure that has aspirations to separate the North Caucasus from Russian Federation and consequently create an independent multi-ethnic state unified under the idea of Sunni fundamentalism - Salafism. The text provides an insight into the genesis of the Caucasus Emirate, its ideological background and its organizational structure. From the genesis of Caucasus Emirate it is evident that the two ideological tendencies in the anti-Russian resistance were evident in the region since the early 90s, when the anti-Russian resistance limited itself to the area of Chechnya. Over time, the Chechen ethnonationalism got exhausted through history while Islamic radicalism showed greater potential to unite the malcontents in the anti-Russian resistance across the peoples of North Caucasus. Moreover, the text also shows that implicit ethnonationalism has not faded away totally and it still affects the appearance and character of Salafism in the region so that we can talk about some kind of a sect within the Salafi movement.
The Political Regime Change and Security: The Political Science Theory and Reform of Security Bodies
Karel Zetocha
The paper deals with the topic of security bodies and their transformation during the transition to democracy. Theoretical framework for studying the security area lies in the transition and consolidation theory. Applying the theory to the security area is based on the hypothesis that theoretical assumptions with regard to the nature of the prior regime and the way the change of regime takes place can be applied to the area of security policy. At the same time, other significant factors may exist affecting the transformation process in the given area. The source of data consists in case studies of intelligence agency reforms following the transition to democracy. Conclusions conceived based on the example of intelligence services are consequently applied to the state security bodies as a whole. Selected cases have shown that assumptions of the transition and consolidation theory are applicable also in the area of security policy. Beside the original regime and the transition changes, the transformation of security bodies is also significantly influenced by the security situation and personal capacities of the new government.