Politics and the security awareness culture today

 

By  Silviu Craescu.

 

 

This concept employs a new institutional approach on promotion of dialogue with public institutions – actors, and also the validation of their social mission in the spirit of knowledgeable about the new generation of threats, risks and vulnerabilities, at the level of the individual, group, as society, national, regional and global.

[The Security Awareness Culture represents a modern institutional angle promoting the security related topics; knowing the public emergencies list where political, military, economic, societal and ecologic sides are concerned; the entire spectrum of notions, ideas and information available, at some point, to the state’s citizens, concerning the security awareness national values, interests and necessities; practice of developing some attitudes, motivations and behaviours required to personal, group and state defense and protection, against vulnerabilities, risk factors, threats, dangerous situations or potential aggression, and also their promotion in the domestic and international security circles – A modern dictionary of public security].

The fight back against terrorism, organized crime, across-the-border criminality are realities which the civil society representatives should know, for further joining efforts with the state’s own institutions, for know, prevent and proactively deal with these issues. And when the challenge is in the security class, then it should rather concern all of us to the same degree.

The current geopolitical context has turned the strategic interest space where Romania is located into an actual source, transit zone and final destination of a some quite serious highly organized criminal activity namely: illegal smuggling of guns, ammunition and explosives; drug smuggling; illegal migration and human beings trafficking; counterfeit products merchandize ; money laundry activities etc.

The newly hatched democracies in this area, however keep face several negative phenomena which damage the qualityof the governing act. In this context, the inefficient governing – as outcome of the democratic deficit and institutional corruption, with effects in political clientelism manifestations, a shabby public administration, authoritarian push trends and an endemic lack of public transparency and responsibility – all these submine the citizens’ confidence in the public institutions and may build as a major threat for the state’s security. In Romania, the inefficient governing represents a potential risk against development and implicitly the long term national security.

The corruption also represents a menace against the national security, yet on short term, however , having a negative impact on living standard, human rights and fundamental liberties, but also of a healthy economic build up.

The new asymmetric threat, the economic and informational globalisation, the global issues, a winding up of the states interdependence, at all levels and fields, the global anomy, represent insecurity hotspots menacing everyone.

That is why the security awareness education and culture, the crises management, fighting back the disinformation, represent prerequisites of a new collective defense, but which is no longer handled by state, as a political -administrative entity, but by citizens themselves via the civil society instead, so that to make a resources decentralisation, of information and responsibilities, prerequisites for prevention and management of the security crisis situations.

Security today ,is a modern concept, which in an open society of democratic type represents and systemic reality, encompassing also the economic, social, cybernetic, foods security, the safeguarding of the citizens ‘ rights and liberties etc.

This is exactly why it is necessary the citizens should be granted free access to information, to be aware of the need for security, since the security awareness culture is not just the property of some group of interests, of some bureaucratic entity, of closed circuit type, as used to happen in the autocratic and non democratic political systems period.
A modern state seeks to identify new security solutions, to make a modern legislation of European vintage in this field, and to provide the due sourcing for the growing of the national security system. The most important sources which be organised and properly exploited are the information and the human sources.

In the absence of a robust development and a satisfactory IGR, which represents the internal sufficiency status of a nation, allowing it to become a competitive factor at international scale, we’re more security consumers rather than security providers.

The role of the civil society is to proactively involve in preventive and management tasks of the new security reality as an indicator of a new vocation of a cross-breed Euro-Atlantic and communitary –European vintage. The aim in cross-hairs is stability, peace and the building up of a modern society, democratic and connected to the Euro-Atlantic values.

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