OJS (University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica)
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Stakeholders in Disengaging from Radicalisation in a Local Community
Get PDFRadicalisation and extremism, with the potential to lead to violent extremism, are a constant security threat in modern democratic societies. In the last few decades, Europe generally and the Western Balkan countries in particular have been broadly viewed as a breeding ground for religious radicals and violent extremis It is becoming clear that radicalisation-prevention strategies must be locally oriented and harmonised at the international and interagency levels. It is intelligence agencies that deal with violent extremism since they are leading national security actors and operate using classified information. Nowadays, the police and other local stakeholders like local government, schools and NGOs are crucial for facilitating a preventative multi-agency approach, especially in local settings. Such an approach should combine measures from the area of criminal justice with policies from the fields of education, social inclusion and integration, while ensuring the timely provision of effective de-radicalisation and/or disengagement. The authors of this paper understand the term disengagement as the action or process of withdrawing from being involved in a radical activity, situation or group. It differs from counter-radicalisation (preventing radicalisation from taking place) and de-radicalisation (bringing about a change in values and ideas away from radical and/or violent ideas). The paper presents the preliminary findings of a study conducted on a sample of 108 students at the Croatian Police College of the MoI concerning the role of different stakeholders responsible for efforts towards the disengagement of individuals from radical and extremist movements in Croatia. The data were collected during the students’ study courses in December 2018
Migrants, Local Fundamentalists and Returnees along the Western Balkans Route
Get PDFAbstract Alongside with the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Serbia is located on the Western Balkans route of migrants and as such has faced a large influx of refugees and economic migrants from the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan since 2011, and especially since 2015. Western Balkans is not their final destination but rather a transit point on the way to Western Europe. Despite this fact, Serbia, like other countries on the Western Balkans route, faces a whole series of security risks caused by the refugee crisis. One of the most prominent threats is the potential for synergy of extremists going to the West as bogus migrants and local Islamic fundamentalists. This is exacerbated with the growing number of returnee volunteers from the war in Syria, many of whom had been previously radicalized, both in the local mosques but also via Internet. They are suspected to maintain a close contact with their “brothers in arms” and serve as role models to other young people. As most of the returnees come from the province of Sandžak in the southwestern part of Serbia, a problem may arise as two large camps for asylum seekers are located in that region (Tutin and Sjenica)
Transformation of Military Education System in Croatia
No full textInvesting in human resources in modern organizations implies continuing education and employee training. In this matter, there are various forms of education, such as specialized courses, financial support of foreign language training and postgraduate scholarships, which can be applied. Military organizations cannot be exempted from this practice, because they have continually been affected by various challenges while seeking to make adjustments to their education systems. The truth of the matter is that new approaches to the employment of military forces call for the transformation of military organizations. Not only does the transformation change the organization, but it also transforms the ways in which militaries run the operations. It inevitably calls for a paradigm shift in defense planning and implementation. Thus, a modified form of a military organization will be developed into smaller, faster and highly networked units, able to be deployed in the shortest possible time. Therefore, the question arises as to how a military education system can be transformed in order to make new command and staff structures ready to respond to numerous challenges
Climate Changes and Landslide Hazard
Get PDFLandslides are a significant threat to the critical infrastructures, and this hazard has two type of phenomena: in the first case, the infrastructure is targeted by a sliding material, and in the second case is itself an integral part of the landslide. In both cases, the damage to the infrastructure may be large and accompanied by significant losses of human life and recovery may be long and very expensive. Weather conditions, such as heavy rainfall, due to the increase of groundwater level and soil saturation are common triggers of landslides occurrence. It's expected that the climate changes in the coming decades cause a significant increase in precipitation, which will directly affect the increase in the number of active landslides. This paper provides an overview of the climate changes impact to the dangers caused by landslides. This work is the result of scientific research in the EU-CIRCLE project, financed through the Horizon 2020 program of the European Union
Protection of Critical National Infrastructure: Challenges for the Private Security Sector
Get PDFThe world in the new decade comes with heavy baggage from the previous periods. It is important to emphasize that these events opened a number of important new safety trends worldwide which will be facing us in the future: the emergence of new urban violence, rising food prices and an increase in hunger worldwide, an increase in migration processes from areas of endangerment and low resources towards those rich in resources, an increase in intolerance and ethnic violence in developed societies, the development of various movements and activities which create new security challenges for modern states, but also the human community as a whole, more frequent natural disasters, threats to critical infrastructure, and similar occurrences. It seems that in the future we will be facing the challenges that have arisen in the past, but for which we have not found a solution to reduce or eliminate them, and new challenges that could significantly jeopardize the many forms of modern life. One of the negative consequences of such a development could be our feeling that the challenges are becoming more complex and our political institutions do not have enough power to deal with them, which could initiate a search for new answers that do not necessarily have to mean progress but rather the opposite. If we add intense terrorist attacks and threats out of control even in traditionally resilient societies to all of the above, then the times in which we live show an ever greater need for the involvement of the private security sector in the protection of critical infrastructure, people, assets and operations at all levels of the societal organization. The solution lies in the good communication and cooperation between the public and private security sector, where the private security serves only a preventive role
Crisis Planning and the General Public in Environmental Protection
Get PDFPublic informing and participation in decision-making related to environmental protection as an important element of engaging stakeholders often excludes crisis planning. In environmental impact assessment procedures, there is often an organizational crisis involving three or four participants, normally the investor/applicant, the county office or ministry managing impact the assessment, the police overseeing the protests, and the judiciary as a result of rights given to the general and concerned public by the Aarhus Convention. Indications of a crisis appear some time before the situation threatens the organization or its partners, and consist of minor incidents that the organization has ignored or deemed insignificant for the final objectives. Unexpected crises bring uncertainty and risks – organizations cannot identify causes or consequences, all efforts are ineffective, while the threats to the entire project and the final objectives are increased. This paper analyses the differences in informing/participation of the general and concerned public in debates on decision-making in urban planning, and public debates on decision-making in environmental impact studies in the case of Lećevica Waste Management Center in Split-Dalmatia County. Methods for the collection of empirical data included problem-focused, in-depth interviews and participating observation. Grounded theory was used in analyzing the empirical material with initial, axial and selective coding. The frequency and absolute and relative cumulative value of coded responses were calculated using descriptive statistics. Results repeatedly showed shortcomings in adopting urban planning documents. Direct/indirect pressures from the politicians and the quiet administrative support or obstruction of administrative bodies are noticeable, including the changes in politics depending on the position of the ruling party/opposition at the state/local level
Environmental Pollution Caused by Mechanical System Failure on Ships
Get PDFCritical infrastructure involves the systems, networks and facilities of great importance for the normal functioning of society. Interruption in the proper functioning of critical infrastructure can have serious repercussions for human health and/or serious economic consequences. Water and water management are among the key sectors of critical infrastructure in the countries comprising the European Union and as such hold great importance for the entire union, as well as for the each individual member state. This paper presents research results whose aim is to show how informed are the respondents about critical infrastructure in the Republic of Croatia, as well as their attitudes regarding the importance of critical infrastructure. In addition, the practical implications of this paper point to the necessity of stronger and systematic protection of water as critical infrastructure. Based on research results, the paper presents a proposal in which direction might be developed the corrections of the extant protection system, with the aim of improving the efficiency of the water supply system protection
Generic Resilience Indicators of Critical Infrastructures
Get PDFThe capacity of critical infrastructure is one of the main components for infrastructure resilience. By improving the capacity increased resilience, and reduce the risks and impacts. There are several dimensions of resilience that need to be taken into consideration when trying to achieve a holistic approach for infrastructure resilience. One of this components anyway are the resilience parameters: anticipation, absorption, coping, restoration and adaptation. These parameters correspond to the critical infrastructure capacities and are a possible way to quantifying these capacities, with appropriate measurable resilience indicators. This paper presenting a list and description of possible generic resilience indicators, that are the same for all type of hazard and all type of critical infrastructure. This work is the result of scientific research in the EU-CIRCLE project, that is financed through the Horizon 2020 program of the European Union.
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New Security Paradigm – The Use of Social Networks as a Form of Threat to the National Security State
Get PDFIslamic State depends on the recruitment of foreign fighters to execute attacks in their home countries. This paper examines the influence of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in the indoctrination and direction of young people into extremist and terrorist collectives. The study wholly depended on the qualitative analysis in unfolding the concerns related to social media and terrorism activities. After an in-depth exploration, the paper has proven that a good number of attacks are launched by homegrown terrorists who are self-radicalized and indoctrinated through YouTube videos, Facebook groups, and Tweets. Following this discovery, the researchers recommend collaboration between the social media owners and intelligence security agencies in combating terrorist activities online. The social media owners’ help in monitoring terrorists’ activities on their websites would thus help in improving the intelligence and the general security of the country
The Islamic State and Global Jihad
Get PDFThis paper aims at providing an explanation why the Islamic State made a strategic shift and started terrorist campaign against the West. The main thesis argues that an attack on Western countries is a retaliatory strike for international military intervention against the Islamic State. The Islamic State also believes it will play a key role in an impending apocalypse, and its terrorist activities against the West largely derive from that belief. The focus of the study is on the analysis of religious terrorism as a projection of violence aimed towards realization of political goals, ideological foundations of militant Islamism as a system of ideas and beliefs that foster violent activities, doctrine of the Islamic State as a codification of its beliefs and activity, and global terrorism as a type of asymmetric war against Western countries. The research has found that ISIS has created a proto-state based on Salafi-jihadi doctrine, managed to portray itself as a religiously legitimate actor among tens of thousands of extremists from all around the world. Deeply committed to the Prophetic methodology, ISIS’s leaders and jihadists initiated total jihad against their opponents, regarding the atrocities as a divine commandment to destroy their enemies. It used international military intervention as a sign of foretold battle against the West and launched indiscriminate terrorist campaign in Europe and North America. With territorial loses in Iraq and Syria, ISIS will focus on terrorist plots in both domestic and foreign theaters. It will try to claim victory over the West by hitting it with lethal terrorist attacks, with the goal of gaining followers and assuming al-Qaeda’s mantle