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This article deals with transformation of several categories of subcultural groupings to real or potential actors of hybrid warfare. It is based on trends and events related to the Ukrainian crisis and to the new Russian power projection in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as on the reaction of governments and societies which are threatened by this way of warfare and politics. Research on subcultures and research on strategy and conflict form the conceptual framework of the article. The author analyses the role of military re-enactment groups, bikers, football hooligans and other youth subcultural groups. The risk analysis serves for an assessment of the current impact and a possible future development of the researched phenomenon.

The paper deals with the process of radicalization in the armed forces in Central Europe, with specific focus on the Czech Armed Forces and the Bundeswehr. The author conceptualizes radicalization as a recent security threat and explains the specifics of the use of this concept in the armed forces. The most important historical legacies are identified and the current development cases and trends are analyzed and compared, including the specifics of various streams of extremism. Possible recommendations how to counter radicalization are included in the paper.

The research described in this paper was conducted in the framework of institutional research project Strategic Alternatives (STRATAL) within the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies of University of Defence in Brno, the Czech Republic. The main objective of this contribution is to assess the evolution of the Czech defence policy (CDP) since the last summer 2016. The main impetuses for the CDP evolution were provided by the NATO Summit in Warsaw, new European Global Strategy including the ambition to enhance defence cooperation among the EU member states and the pattern of dynamics in our security environment. The authors analysed the key change drivers (KCDs) and measures taken in political, military, administrative, economical and societal domain in order to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the defence policy. Finally, the authors offer several recommendations to enhance the responsiveness and preparedness of the Czech defence system and the Armed Forces both in short- and long-term time span.

This article deals with one of the approaches to command - Mission Command - which can be seen as a dominant command philosophy in NATO nations and especially in the United States. This approach is considered as a very important in terms of possible responses to the challenges having impact on current and future security environment. Respective parts of this article describe the military causes and related historical consequences based on which the mentioned command philosophy had been constructed. The relevant parts describe basic principles of Auftragstaktik, developed and implemented by Prussian and later on by German military leaders which aim is to emphasize centralized intent and dispersed execution through disciplined initiative.

The article deals with the use and future prospects of the international cooperation for the development some of Czech Armed Forces capabilities in the field of military medicine. It has no ambition to address this issue in its entirety, but only contains an analysis of some of the current formats and initiatives of international cooperation in the field of military medicine, with the justification of their origins and a brief evaluation of their contribution. Part of the article is also a proposal for possible measures to improve the development of medical capabilities in the framework of international cooperation.

The paper deals with the concept of proxy wars in the region of the Middle-East and the role of intelligence services in it. In the current conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, many external actors and powers interfere using (not only) their intelligence services for the defence of their national interests in afflicted states, often even combating each other on a territory of a different state. The main goal of the paper is to introduce the concept of proxy war and analyse the role of intelligence services in the ongoing conflicts in the defined area.

The contemporaneous security environment is more diverse, dynamic, interconnected and far less predictable than ever. As the major Western militaries undergo continuous changes in missions and tasks, as well as in the form of their organisations, the warfighting abilities of military leaders are not the only ones required. Transformational military leadership, with leaders operating from the post-conventional level of developmental action-logic, arguably become one of the most needed capacities of a military organisation. This type of leadership has to be capable of initiating and leading transformational changes, needed to respond adequately and adaptively to contemporaneous and future security challenges. This article analyses the applicability of transformational leadership to military organisations using the developmental theory and the concept of vertical leadership development as a framework.

The research described in this paper was conducted in the framework of institutional research project Strategic Alternatives (STRATAL) within the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies of University of Defence, The Czech Republic. Article assesses the development of Czech Defence policy in 2017 and first half of 2018. Authors analyse key change drivers in external environment (security threats, EU strategic autonomy, transatlantic link). In second step authors evaluate measures taken in political, military, administrative, economical and societal domain in response to key change drivers and highlight related risks to effective defence policy formulation and implementation.

The authors present the results of the research on the Lessons Learned process applied within the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic. The main purpose of the article is to introduce the proposal of the process optimization to readers. The paper describes the process in detail, and this description is used to identify procedural shortcomings exploiting the process analysis method in terms of factual and logical accuracy of the process. The following part of the article presents the results of the comparative analysis of the chosen Lessons Learned processes. The result of the comparative analysis allows authors to make in an innovative way suitable recommendations for optimizing the current state of the whole process of Lessons Learned. Based on the analysis of the educational programs, the paper proposes to include the subject of the Lessons Learned process into the learning outcomes, especially from the perspective of competency based approach to education.

This article deals with the phenomenon of Czech foreign fighters in the Ukrainian conflict, mostly from the point of view of the propagandist use and from the point of view of the Czech penal law. Both issues are interconnected, because according to the Czech law, service in foreign armies or in terrorist entities can be penalised. On the other hand, foreign fighters can be assessed as an important propagandist element and their participation in the conflict can strengthen the political position of the warring party. This tension between these legal impacts and the propagandist use creates the main theme of this article. The concept of hybrid warfare frames the current development. The author comes to the conclusion that the legal consequences pose only a limited obstacle for the propagandist use.

The article deals with the evaluation of the state of oil security in the Czech Republic and measures, which should be taken to increase it. The attention is payed to the importance of the crude oil in the energy mix of the Czech Republic, its oil dependency and international cooperation in the area of oil security. Further, it focuses on the emergency stocks of the crude oil and petroleum products and to their use and to the oil demand restraint measures.

Personnel Recovery is currently an inseparable part of all NATO military operations. This article is focused on the development of the Personnel Recovery in military operations from the Second World War to the 2003 Iraq War. It describes the meaning of the concept of Personnel Recovery, introduces its basic aims including the clarification of its importance in military operations. It focuses on the identification of conditions that determine the existence of the rescue system. In the historical context, it describes the circumstances of development of the recovery of isolated personnel, including its incorporation into a functional system. It identifies and analyzes events that, in terms of their importance and ability to influence subsequent development, represents milestones in the organization of Personnel Recovery and from them describes the measures taken.

Article deals with analysis and description of defence-industrial cooperation of V4 countries from the beginning of nineties of the 20th century up to 2016. The goal of this text is presentation of findings relating to achieved degree of cooperation, where besides realized cooperation (its outcomes are real products) and political aspects (as determining mechanism and framework of whole partnership) attention is also paid to the causes as a driving force of past and current state. In conclusion, author assesses the most problematic issues of defenceindustrial cooperation of V4 countries and also obstacles of their deeper EU involvement, which can be used as a more suitable framework for anchoring regional partnership in sector of defence industry. Author also outlines areas of potential future cooperation of Visegrad partners.

This study deals with selected aspects of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine in Luhansk and Donetsk region in period of April 2014 - to February 2015. Study is divided in two subsequent articles. The first article consists of introduction, theoretic-methodological part, analytical part and short summary, which defines main features of Russians engagement in the conflict. Theoretic-methodological part deals with terminological, theoretical and methodological background of analysis, including generally approach of Russian federation to security policy. Analytical part is divided in to the two partial chapters. The first deals with main Russian objective in the conflict. The second deals with the phases of Russian engagement.

The text deals with the conflict analysis and the use of typology within its framework. The author sums up the most relevant methodological approaches and tries to highlight their limits in the analysis of the current conflicts, which have by far more different characteristic features than in the past. In modern military conflicts, the states often use private military companies and create illegal armed formations. Quite often, the conflict parties have a varied character and one can observe chaotic alliances of state and non-state actors with different interests and different views on the projection of power and the use of armed force. The text highlights the necessity of adaptation of the current methodological approaches or at least their components and the development and changes which take place in contemporary conflicts.

This article deals with the research of the internationalization of conflicts, trying to examine this phenomenon from the theoretical perspective and as a definition. Then the term of internationalization of conflict is conceptualized in order to be applied to a chosen internationalized internal armed conflict. The text also deals with various actors intervening in the internationalized conflict. They are divided into external and internal actors, while their interventions during civil war can be multilateral or unilateral. The concept of the conflict internationalization is also compared with the concept of the proxy war. The closeness of both terms can be confusing for many researchers and their division is one of the important outcomes of this article. There is also a typology of internationalized internal armed conflict types in the text as well as identification of reasons for military actions against a neighbouring state in civil war. At the end, two case studies of Syrian and Yemeni civil wars are introduced to the reader in the framework of the conflict internationalization concept. The text itself is a conference contribution and it has no ambition of bringing new scientific findings and extending knowledge. Rather, it presents a general survey of the examined phenomenon, which can be developed and researched by social sciences based on case studies.

The issue of terrorism is becoming increasingly important on the level of social, economic, political and security. The threat of terrorism affects at the same time, societal and cultural events. Professional and academic discussion addresses the causes and possible consequences of this phenomenon. To understand the implications of terrorism, it is necessary to look at this issue from the perspective of terms of its financing. This review study aims to define the term financing of terrorism on the one hand, but also to identify possible sources of financing of terrorism, including the most used payment methods by terrorist organizations. This study also leads a discussion on the efforts and effectiveness of the various authorities in the fight for detecting terrorism, especially in relation to the detection of its financial flows. The study also defines the possible pitfalls in the fight against terrorism and detecting its sources of financing and attempts to outline possible alternatives while increasing success in this fight.

When planning and conducting tactical exercises of units and formations, it is often the case that aspects of long-term operations in a chemical, biological or radiological contaminated environments have disappeared from consideration of commanders and staff officers. The reluktance to "complicate the situation" in training may have different causes, but the continuing importance of CBRN defence is indisputable. The article discusses probable commander questions related to the effective management of subordinate units in a contaminated environments. Their answering can help to successfully fulfill defined combat tasks that have been disrupted by the use of enemy weapons of mass destruction, improvised devices containing highly toxic substances, or leakage of industrial hazardous substances into the environment.

This article discusses the issues of the Czech military diplomacy carried out by military, air, naval or defence attachés accredited in foreign countries in order to uphold the national security and defence interests. The main emphasis of this article is put on the evaluation of current state and legal bases of military diplomacy of the Czech Republic. The article aims to identify and analyse the challenges (1) the Czech diplomacy is currently faced with and to propose viable solutions (2) which could possibly contribute to better coordination and effectiveness of the Czech military diplomacy.

The paper assesses the conceptual framework for Czech defence policy formulation in the wake of a rapid change in its security environment after Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and the subsequent Russian support for separatists in Ukraine's eastern provinces and growing instability in the Middle East and North Africa. The article examines key measures taken in the political, military, administrative, economical and societal domains in order to evaluate the overall effectiveness of Czech defence policy. Finally, the authors offer several strategic level recommendations to enhance responsiveness and preparedness of the Czech defence system and Armed Forces as one of its most significant components both in short- and long-term perspective.

Frozen conflict in Nagorno Karabakh has been representing a threat to the regional stability for the last two decades. Sudden escalation of violence in 2016, known as Four-Day War, spurred new discussions on factors influencing the territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. While adversaries explain the conflict as a reaction to military provocations or as a rally round the flag effect, this article explains the dynamics of the conflict through the influence of the third party - Russia. Russia considers the Caucasus to be its sphere of the influence and therefor aims to spread its control through strengthening strategic ties with both Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to prevent the West from projecting its power in the region. Russia's role of the superpower has therefor a vast influence on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict development.

The article brings a "Condition-If-Then" construct as a proven protocol for writing risk statement and its application into assessing risks related to capability gaps identified during the defense planning processAuthors discuss utility of "Common approach" and "Impact averse approach" to risk rank ordering as a tool for ordering risks according to their importance. Using the discussed tools enables the planners to run risk assessment that sets preconditions for prioritizing the Force Development Options (FDOs) and for minimizing the impact of capability gaps on conduct of future operations. The ORAMF and the application of the given protocol for writing risks are some of the building blocks of the defense planning process, offering a toolset for reinforcement of the defense planning of the Czech Republic.

The paper discusses the correlation between methodologies of conflict analysis and dynamics of international security environment and highlights the need to tailor these methodologies to the rapid sequencing of world events. The analytical approach starts with an overview on the general theory of conflict, whereupon the author focuses on the most widely used models of contemporary conflict analysis and summarizes the way they approach the same conflict, namely the recent events in Ukraine, in order to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of each model. The final part of the paper develops, instead of conclusions, the correlation between the two analysed items and the way in which specific components of the methodologies can be adapted to the development of main characteristics of the international security environment.

The paper deals with cyber security, cyber defence and operations in cyber space focusing on the department of defence. Tasks implied from the Czech Republic's, NATO's and European Union strategic documents and roles of participating subjects have been analysed. Four scenarios as another source of identified tasks were created and used to describe possible situations requiring cyber defence capabilities. The presented analysis is a prerequisite for specifying required capabilities, and a proposal how to assign roles, responsibilities and required capabilities.

This text sets its aim in analyzing the current state of active reserve in the Czech republic. The function, current state along with future plans as envisioned in the Concept of Active reserve from the year 2012 and relevant public anouncements of certain military and ministry officials will be described first. The ammendment to the conscription act will be briefly introduced along with its effects on the function of Active reserve, its perspectives and on the requirements on the recruits. Then the possible issues that may arise during the implementation of reforms will be analyzed. These lay mainly in the personal level and training. Several possible solutions for these issues will be put forward.

The paper deals with cyber security, cyber defence and operations in cyber space. It follows earlier performed analysis of cyber defence tasks and proposes distribution of competencies among key players. The required capabilities are derived from tasks determined by legislation, NATO and EU commitments and earlier developed strategic and operational scenarios. Comparing required capabilities and an actual state, a solution harmonizing defence in cyber space with defence of the Czech Republic and ensuring the cyber space defence and integration cyber capabilities into common operations conducting is proposed.

The article deals with the topic of scenarios in relation to their significance, internal structure development and the way of elaborating scenarios following links to security threats and mission types. Article describes possible way of structuring set of scenarios reflecting security threats stated in The Security strategy of the Czech Republic and corresponding mission types. Main methodology exploited during the work with the topic of scenarios was document analysis, which resulted in finding, that scenarios don't enjoy appropriate attention in the defence resort of the Czech Republic, scenarios are not elaborated and thus not exploited. The article deals in the conclusion with propositions aiming at elaborating scenarios with purposefull internal structure, elaborating security threats and reflecting mission types.

The article deals with the use of military police in combat operations during dominance phase.Itdescribes the place androleofmilitarypoliceas combat support units, analyzes experience from previous and ongoing operations and specifies the possible activities of military police during this phase. In conclusion it gives recommendations for the development of capabilities in terms of the activities performed and possible changes in organizational structures. The content of the article is based on thesis prepared by the participant of the 27th General Staff Course at the University of Defence.