The Role of the Loya Jirga in Shaping Afghanistan’s Political System

In this article, the author presents the results of research on the origins of the Loya Jirga and its impact on the formation of the political system of Afghanistan. According to the author, searching for an answer to the question of what role the Loya Jirga played in the creation of an independent Afghan state and what significance it had in shaping the internal and foreign policy of the Afghan authorities is important for understanding the political processes that took place in Afghanistan in the 20’th century, both in the period of monarchy and communism, as well as the processes taking place in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from this country in 2021. The main research method used by the author was the historical method. With its help, the author also analyzed the role of this advisory body in the formation of the Constitution of Afghanistan, which was subject to significant changes in various historical periods depending on the political situation.

The aim of the article is to analyze the phenomenon of the constitutionalization of politics, understood as the influence of non-judicial actors on the procedure of constitutional review on the example of the functioning of selected offices of the United States Department of Justice during the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. By analyzing the activities of attorneys general and Office of Legal Counsel lawyers, the author shows the important role of these entities in determining the constitutionality of surveillance policy of presidential administrations in the field of national security.

Poland considers the Russian Federation as a major threat for its security; these fears have considerably increased since the Russian aggression against Ukraine in early 2022. This article analyses Russia’s policy towards Poland through the risk matrix, taking into account four elements: Poland’s assets, existing threats, vulnerabilities and finally countermeasures adopted by Poland. It focuses on four security sectors: military, economic, political, and societal. The risk of a full-scale military attack on Poland is possible, though a low intensity ‘hybrid’ conflict seems more probable. The overall dependence of the Polish economy on Russia (trade, foreign direct investments) is relatively narrow. However, the energy ties remain relatively strong, which constitutes a risk for Poland, especially since both EU and Russia strive to limit their cooperation in the field of energy. In the political sector, there is a high risk that Russia’s interference could contribute to the deconstruction of the existing political system based on European values, such as democracy and the rule of law. In the societal sector, the assessment of Poland’s vulnerability is not unanimous. Russia has failed to successfully fuel a Polish-Ukrainian societal conflict. Poland had to face however two refugee crises – on Belarussian (2021) and on the Ukrainian (2022) borders; in both cases they were at least indirectly provoked by the Russian Federation.

Electoral processes in many African countries including Nigeria, are faced with the challenges of conducting free, fair, credible and violence-free elections. Political violence has become a stain on Nigerian democracy. This paper therefore examined the impact of political violence on national security in Nigeria. The paper adopted the descriptive analytical approach. This study found out that Political violence in Nigeria is now a stain in our democracy that is now seen as a political structure and strategy for employment during elections and the use of weapons during elections have an aftermath impact on the national security. Consequently, some recommendations were made by the researcher. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has to take conscious and strategic actions against political violence in the country (Nigeria), due to the fact that action and inaction of the government of the country plays a very important role in either stopping or continuing the menace. Appropriate security network and intelligence should be organized to monitor electoral activities of the country to mitigate incidences of violence. The Independent National Electoral Commission should conduct free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria while the political parties and their candidates should ensure strict compliance with electoral regulations of the country (Nigeria).

Visions of external and internal security in the political thought of peasant parties in the Second Polish Republic

Polish political thought of the interwar period basically focused on the achievements of two political camps: the right-wing one centered around National Democracy and its leader Roman Dmowski, and the Belvedere camp led by Jozef Pilsudski. The other political currents, except for the extremes, presented less comprehensive concepts of state and regional security, and both external and internal security. All serious political currents, excluding the extreme and nationalist ones, were united by the desire to fight for Poland’s national security. The unfavorable geopolitical position of the country and the threat coming from the two strongest neighbors (Germany, the USSR) were demonstrated. High hopes were attached to the idea of collective security, in particular, the activities of the League of Nations or regional agreements. The dangers to Poland’s internal security arising from the nationality structure of society (about one-third are national minorities and a large part of them living in compact clusters), social differentiation, including material poverty (the influence of extreme ideologies), district differences (the effect of partitions), and political divisions, were seen as great for Poland’s internal security.

Cyber and cyberterrorist threats in the context of state security and its areas. Own research

Analysis of the security of the state its areas in the scope of individual critical infrastructure systems for threats originating from cyberspace i san element of the discourse of the authors of the article. As part of a research experiment conducted among students of Cyberspace Engineering National Secutity of the Pomeranian University in Słupsk and students of Internal Security the Radom University Kazimierz Pulaski, presented an analysis of the impact of the phenomenon of cyberterrorism on the level national security and measures taken to combat and counteract it in the assessment of students.