Privatisation of security did not appear in the process of revolution. Under conditions of deepening international relations, as well as integration and globalisation processes, security of the state, as well as other entities, is subject to a number of dependencies. The article casts some doubt on how much states are prepared to take such actions, while not losing the attribute of monopoly on violence. Moreover, the article presents doubts about the ranks of modern armed forces. Private Military Firms (PMFs) are new actors the actions of which affect the security. The contemporary image of the PMF functioning is a phenomenon on a global scale. In the twenty-first century, small businesses can have a huge impact on the reality and international affairs. Leaving military firms without state control proves that they do not understand the dynamics, range, risks and challenges posed by cooperation with entities that are allowed to use force. Furthermore, despite devastating consequences that occurred during the state stabilisation operations, these firms continued to outsource services to contractors, while not creating any legal control over them.

The National Armed Forces were created in Venezuela at the beginning of the 20th century. Gradually they became the main instrument in the political game and were used in forming a centralized national state. Along with subsequent transformations of the political system the position of the Armed Forces was getting stronger and they started to expand their role. The present article offers an analysis of the position and role of the Armed Forces in the process of transformation of the state in Venezuela. I will focus my attention on the changes that took place in the period of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. I will also analyze some earlier crucial phases in the 20th century history of the formation of the Venezuelan state.

The political transformation in Poland resulted in the reorientation of Polish policy in the field of understanding security. It found its reflection in newly defined policy directions, which were manifested in the search for new guarantees of security, development opportunities and giving a new character to Polish politics. The problem of ensuring state security in new geopolitical conditions is expressed in the adopted hierarchy of priorities for the implementation of the Polish raison d’etat. The implementation of the policy priorities means that Poland has a solid foundation for security. The Polish Army carries out many key tasks in it. The armed forces of the Republic of Poland became an element of the broad NATO security system. Building faith in defensive self-sufficiency, Poland distances itself more and more from Europe. Both threats and challenges require decision-making in matters of security and go beyond the traditionally understood security. As a consequence, Poland responds to both threats and challenges in the security policy of the Republic of Poland to a small extent.

Civilian management and democratic control over the army do not only consist in establishing organs and mechanisms of control and optimising their activity. It is significant to determine and respect the role of the armed forces in the society, which would allow making the army a politically neutral instrument of legally functioning forces as well as appropriate organisational structures with strictly defined protection measures allocated to carry out the undertakings of the state and the nation. The position and function of the army in society should be based on the fact that it reflects the features of the society it comes from. In order to facilitate the effective progression of the process, the following aspects should be taken into account: in what manner the army reacts to the decisions and actions of civilian society; whether there are intermediary bodies between these spheres; to what extent the armed forces represent the interests of the society; and whether a soldier-citizen exists or if the two notions should be treated separately

W ramach demokratycznego systemu politycznego siły zbrojne znajdują się pod kontrolą władz cywilnych. Głównym zadaniem armii jest obrona państwa i społeczeństwa. Coraz częściej siły zbrojne próbują jednak definiować swój charakter i wpływać na politykę państwa za pomocą oficjalnych i nieoficjalnych instytucji. Armia staje się wtedy grupą interesu. Celem artykułu jest określenie sposobu funkcjonowania armii jako grupy interesu na bazie istniejących teorii dotyczących sprawowania cywilnej kontroli nad armią.

The rights of the President of the Republic of Poland  in the scope of supreme authority over the Armed Forces  during the term of Constitution of 17th March 1921

The article concerns the rights and activities of the president as a superior of the armed forces while the Constitution of 17th March 1921 was in force. The first part of the article is dedicated to a short description of the relation between the legislature and the executive, and the position of the armed forces in the Constitution of 17th March 1921. The second part of the article relates to detailed analysis of the constitutional and the statutory responsibilities of the President as a Superior of the Armed Forces. It was difficult to determine the character of the supreme authority of the President because there was no regulation defining the organization of general military authorities in the country. Formally, in a time of peace, the armed forces were subordinate to the President through the Minister of National Defense, who was liable to Sejm. The third part of the article constitutes the analysis of discussed powers after the constitutional amendment of 2nd August 1926. According to the provisions of the amendment, the President received the rights to issue a regulation with force of statute. His systemic position has strengthened, and as a consequence, it has a major impact on the extension of his rights as far as his authority over the Armed Forces is concerned. Furthermore, the author conducts dogmatic analysis of the regulations and constitu- tional practice concerning the supreme authority.

In spite of defining the role of various measures of security policy implementation the weight of one has been quite unequivocally assessed for the current policy. The main position for contemporary Poland is to be taken by the armed forces.
Under these conditions, the Polish Army has become a basic element of the defense system of Poland not only in terms of image. It is not surprising then that currently the armed forces have received a wide range of tasks regarding security – both internal and external. President Duda and the government of Law and Justice proudly show the 2 percent of GDP spent on defense and an even higher target, at the latest in 2030. However, this does not create a perspective that would allow “hurray” optimism. The key to describing the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland seems to be their ability to respond to the revolution in the field of military and the ability to modernize.
Despite the plans of the Ministry of National Defense and declarations given in media, this process faces a number of difficulties. Not only do we create “abstract” visions of needs for the current policy, but we also offend our partners and those that are still our allies.
The arms policy, so important from the point of view of this “self-sufficiency”, was brought to the accusations of lobbying, corruption, and fraud; not only do we not pay attention to our own needs, but we also create innovative concepts for the current policy that cause us to wander in dilettantism.
It seems that the shape of the implementation of the modernization of the Armed Forces is affected not only by the current policy. To a large extent, the condition of the Polish arms industry is also a decisive factor in the absorption of modernization.

Asymmetry of warfare, or more often asymmetric warfare, is an issue often referred to in descriptions of contemporary political and military relations affecting the state. It is even presented as an entity threatened by these hostilities. Meanwhile, these acts are a form of an armed conflict in which opposing sides have different military potentials. One of the potentials is the power of the state. We must wonder then how the state uses it. Is it not an entity who uses it in a way disproportionate to the situation of conflict? The paper argues that a contemporary state is not without sin and it is not just that it is not able to protect its interests from asymmetric threats. Warfare still is, which many forget, the basis for hostilities (war). In the author’s understanding (erroneous perhaps?) asymmetry does not only occur at the level of war, but it also happens in its key dimension – warfare. It has emerged not only through the change in the status of the fighting party, but also through the time of warfare and using the warfare terrain.

The article focuses on the constitutional aspects of defense and security of the Republic of Poland. It analyzes the provisions of the Constitution concerning defense and security, including the tasks and the competences of the state bodies in the area of defense and security, the principles of commanding over the Armed Forces in time of peace and wartime, their tasks in the field of defense and security. According to the author of article the constitutional regulation on security of the Republic of Poland leaves room for numerous doubts. They can be largely attributed to the lack of a distinct division of the state bodies’ competencies in the area of security and defense. The Constitution does not stipulate the rules on commanding over the country in wartime. Whereas solutions included in the statutes arouse doubts in terms of their accordance with the Constitution.

Celem artykułu jest charakterystyka stanowisk: Federacji Rosyjskiej, Mołdawii i nieuznawanej Naddniestrzańskiej Republiki Mołdawskiej wobec obecności rosyjskich sił zbrojnych na obszarze Naddniestrza oraz motywacja działań podjętych w tej kwestii. W pierwszej części pracy skoncentrowano wysiłki na przedstawieniu genezy powstania państwa nieuznawanego w granicach Mołdawii i znaczenia dla tego procesu formacji rosyjskich. Następnie zaprezentowano podejście zainteresowanych stron do problemu alokacji sił rosyjskich w Naddniestrzu. Ponadto uwzględniono głos szeroko pojętej społeczności międzynarodowej (rezolucja ZO ONZ). Zaakcentowano również uwzględnienie tego zagadnienia w nowej strategii obrony Mołdawii (2018). Za priorytet uznano wydarzenia zaistniałe w drugiej dekadzie XXI w.

Zasadniczym celem artykułu jest kwestia zorganizowania skutecznego systemu obronnego Unii Europejskiej w kontekście zmiany geopolitycznej dokonującej się w świecie. Tym samym istotna staje się odpowiedź na pytanie, czy Unia Europejska chcąc utrzymać istotną rolę w globalnym układzie politycznym może tego dokonać nie dysponując sprawnym instrumentem militarnym? Wydaje się, że Unia Europejska pozbawiona efektywnej siły militarnej może zachować ważną pozycję w systemie globalnym, lecz zostanie zredukowana do roli mocarstwa drugiego rzędu, jako podmiot nie pełnowymiarowy. Zasadniczymi metodami badawczymi są różne metody pomiaru potęgi jednostek politycznych.

This article presents the research results, which set out to explain the mechanisms leading to the achievement of dominance by the Russian Federation in the international security environment. In the research process, the systemic approach was applied. Analysis and criticism of the literature, non-participatory observation and case study elements were used to solve the research problems. As a result, it was determined that the theoretical basis for the Russian Federation's achievement of international dominance is the concept of new generation war. The model of the strategic influence of the Russian Federation is directed at the shaping of the security environment and includes the synchronisation of kinetic and non-kinetic measures, indirect and direct effects, the blurring of the boundaries between war and peace and the application of pressure and aggression. The Russian Federation achieves strategic dominance through asymmetry, chaos, reflexive control, and strategic deterrence. Armed forces provide a key role in asserting dominance, focused on conducting offensive activities and inflicting losses with conventional and nuclear weapons.

Selected Dimensions of Human Freedom in the Armed Forces of a Democratic State

The article reviews the scientific literature on selected dimensions of human freedom, being the subject of influence of the Polish Armed Forces. The aim of the article is to examine their nature and the manner of their interconnection through institutional and legal mechanisms. The conceptual framework of the article is determined by the use of the concept of consilience, useful in the analysis of the operation of public institutions, using approaches in the field of: politics, security, law, public management, praxeology, human resource management and the functional-interpretative paradigm and moderate constructivism. This article shows the understanding of individual security from the perspective of legal respect for selected dimensions of freedom of a member of the armed forces.

The Philippines during Rodrigo Duterte’s Rule: Rivalry between the United States and China

The rivalry of great powers between the United States and China embraces all regions of the world, including Southeast Asia and especially the Philippines. The President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte (2016–2022) at the beginning of his presidency started to diminish the dependence of the country on former colonial power the US and to improve relations with China. Duterte hoped for the increase of economic cooperation and support of Beijing for modernization of infrastructures. Despite some successes in his policy, Duterte finally started to search again for support from the US. It was the result of extremely strong links and dependency between armed forces of Philippines and United States and generally very strong pro American filling of many Filipinos, the second reason was slowness of realization of some Chinese investments in the country, brutality and aggressiveness of Chinese coast guards towards Philippine fishers, and probably also some weakness in Chinese policy to the Philippines. Finally, Duterte obtained good results. The US confirmed readiness for military support in case of foreign aggression (especially in the South China Sea) and China was involved in political and economic cooperation with the Philippines.

This article presents the results of research which set out to clarify the principles of the use of nuclear weapons and deterrence mechanisms in order to achieve dominance by the Russian Federation in the international security environment. Analysis and criticism of the literature, nonparticipatory observation and elements of case study were used to solve the research problems. The research process established that the Russian Federation will conduct campaigns to undermine the existing international security order using military means, including nuclear weapons. The nuclear component is an inherent element of the Russian Federation’s policy shaping the international security environment and at the same time is a key factor in the holistic concept of coercion. Strategic deterrence is a mechanism for achieving international dominance in peacetime, crisis situations, and war. Its purpose is to bring about concessions and coerce behavior consistent with the strategic interests of the Russian Federation. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate guarantee of the Russian Federation’s strategic dominance in the world. On the other hand, the constantly lowered threshold of its use leads to the degradation of the security environment and the violation of its stability.

The purpose of this research is to establish whether it is permissible for the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland to be involved in the electoral process when none of the states of emergency provided for by the Polish Constitution cannot be introduced. So, my aim is to answer the question whether the Polish Armed Forces can ensure the security of the electoral process in Poland. To this end, one must examine the Polish legal system, composed of not only provisions of Polish law, but also of binding supranational law and soft law. It is beyond the scope of this study to explore possible measures to be taken based on the provisions of Section 20, “Militarization and Protection of Objects of Special Importance for the Security or Defence of the State” of the Act of 11 March 2022 on Homeland Defence (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2022, item 2305), since, as Article 600(1) provides, “in the event that a state of emergency is declared in the entire territory of the Republic of Poland, a state of war, mobilization, and in time of war, the Council of Ministers may extend militarization to the units eligible for militarization and under the obligation to perform tasks vitally important for the security or defence of the state”.

This article presents a theoretical connection of armed forces operations and a disaster risk reduction concept. The objective is to elaborate a model of armed forces participation in disaster risk reduction in relation to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. The research method bases on a review of the literature and a cognitive design of the participation model. General role of armed forces, potential and societal expectations are factors that place them in a context of disaster risk reduction. Soldiers are said to participate in protection of the most important utilitarian values regardless of circumstances (military hazards and non-military hazards). Their operations might be ascribed into limiting of hazard power, reducing vulnerabilities, shortening exposure, improving resilience, and strengthening capacities to cope with a disaster. They can reduce the risk associated with military hazards and non-military hazards. The concept may be a reference in designing synergy in cooperation between military and non-military entities.

The objective of this article is to point to legal foundations of the crisis management system and to specify principles it is built on, its actors, their competences, mechanisms of cooperation and coordination and principles for financing crisis management tasks. The author places special emphasis on the need to observe human rights and freedoms in the context of actions taken by the state that aim to ensure security and to create an effective crisis management system. The starting point for this discussion is an assumption that security-related problems affect the entire society whereby this society has the right and obligation to participate in efforts to ensure security. At the same time, institutional mechanisms of ensuring security only use participation of institutions by various kinds of interrelations and support. This article shows certain mechanisms of building national security by state bodies and institutions that are responsible for it and competent to respond in crisis situations. How-ever, the exegesis covers participation of the armed forces and legal aspects of employing the Polish Armed Forces in the event of non-military threats.

The collapse of the USSR resulted in the decomposition of the security system in the post-Soviet Region. The states established after the collapse of the USSR were looking for new security guarantees, fearing for the future, especially at the beginning of shaping their statehood. However, the Russian Federation sought to reintegrate the post-Soviet area for historical and political reasons. Its goal was to subjugate the post-Soviet states and maintain its sphere of influence in the region. It created the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which was to be an institutional form of integration of the countries of the post-Soviet area under the leadership of Russia. Its actions were also aimed at eliminating the influence of European countries and the PRC in this region. The main aim of the article is to analyze the military and political activities of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the importance of the Russian Federation in it. The article presents the main decision-making bodies of the organization, political processes and actions undertaken by the CSTO. It also pays attention to a significant challenge for the CSTO created by the armed intervention of the Russian Federation in Ukraine in 2022.