Challenges to national defence in contemporary geopolitical situation

The aim of this paper is to analyze the legal definition, organizational status, and forms of deployment of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic within the crisis management system and during declared states of emergency. Methodologically, the paper is based on a normative analysis of applicable legislation, a content analysis of relevant academic sources, and a synthesis of findings derived from practical implementation experience. The results identify persistent ambiguities in competences and limitations of the legal framework governing the domestic deployment of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, particularly in the areas of command, coordination, and the interpretation of assistance-related tasks. The paper therefore contributes to the professional debate on the need for doctrinal and normative anchoring of civil-military cooperation under the conditions of the Slovak Republic. The findings indicate the need to refine the legal framework in order to increase the effectiveness of crisis management and civil-military cooperation. The main contribution of the paper lies in a generalizable and systematic linkage between the normative and operational dimensions of the deployment and functioning of the armed forces within the state crisis management system.

The article was first published in the US Army Journal Military Review:https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/English-Edition-Archives/September-October-2025/Lessons-from-Ukraine/

The primary concern of this article is to review the knowledge and ability of people to act to protect themselves and others in the face of various risks and hazards, and to manage accident and crisis situations. Relevant issues include the needs and requirements of emergency situations, people’s ability to respond to them, and factors that affect coping ability. The selected sub-areas are practiceoriented and defined in terms of real-world problems rather than theories or scientific concepts. One of the purposes of choosing to structure the review of risk, accident and crisis management psychology in this way is to emphasize the importance of human limitations and capabilities as an element in all areas of activity and responsibility. This approach, in turn, assumes that the review contains a broad theoretical base and multifaceted approaches, which are necessarily treated here rather generically.

The authors have investigated the features of legal support for cybersecurity in some of the leading countries of the world, have established the organizational basis for its support, as well as the main aspects of NATO and the EU’s activities and standards in this area. In particular, the essence of the concept of cybersecurity is determined by referring to the views of both foreign scientists and Ukrainian scientists, and fixing this definition in normative documents of international importance (international standard ISO/IEC 27032:2012). Actual strategic goals in the direction of ensuring cybersecurity in countries such as France, the UK, the United States, as well as the settlement of these issues at the legislative level in Ukraine are highlighted. It has been established which state bodies operate in the indicated countries, whose powers include ensuring cybersecurity. Attention is paid to the settlement of cybersecurity and cyber protection issues at the international level, in particular at the EU and NATO levels. Particular attention is paid to NATO standards – TEMPEST. The content of the norms of the current legislation of Ukraine in the field of ensuring cybersecurity and the nature of the priority tasks of the National Cyber Security Coordination Center under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine are disclosed, which are normatively enshrined in the relevant Regulation. The features of the regulatory and organizational support of cybersecurity in some leading countries of the world and in Ukraine are structured.

Lately a lot of attention has been given to legal regulation of cybersecurity. This article will review legal regulation of cybersecurity in Lithuania. Historical retrospective of legal regulation of cybersecurity in Lithuania will be discussed, strategic Lithuanian cybersecurity documents will be analysed, and the Law on Cybersecurity of the Republic of Lithuania will be analysed and evaluated. After a comparative analysis of cybersecurity strategies and laws and a review of legal regulation of cybersecurity in Lithuania, gaps of law-making and of other measures were distinguished, and corresponding conclusions were made. The adoption of the new Law on Cybersecurity, which regulates many important institutes, is evaluated positively. But with regard to the current legal regulation on cybersecurity in Lithuania additional measures are necessary (functions of institutions that formulate cybersecurity policy and perform control functions have not been detailed and distinguished, also functions of the Lithuanian national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) are not foreseen in the Law on Cybersecurity, etc.).