Challenges to national defence in contemporary geopolitical situation

The central topic of this paper is the complex issue of providing crisis intervention, post-traumatic care, posttraumatic intervention care, psychosocial intervention services in the basic components of the integrated rescue system in the Czech Republic. We draw on theoretical knowledge and also on practical experience that members and officers of the integrated rescue system in their daily practice are involved in a number of highly traumatic emergencies and crisis situations. The negative impact of dealing with emergencies and crisis situations has primary or secondary impact on their psychological state. Almost in their daily practice they encounter emotionally stressful situations such as traffic accidents accompanied by severe injuries or death of the participants, mass disabilities of persons, encounters with death (in various forms: natural death, death as a result of a criminal act, etc. ), notification of deaths to survivors, dealing with psychologically and physically demanding conflicts with persons showing elements of aggression and aggressive (verbal and physical) behaviour, interventions against armed offenders, implementation of crisis communication (personal or telephone) with persons demonstrating suicidal intent, implementation of crisis communication with affected persons or their family members, implementation of communication with persons with specific needs (e.g. etc.), implementation of multicultural communication, etc. Thus, traumatic events affecting their psychological state occur in their daily practice. That is why a psychological examination (analysing their mental health as well as their level of resilience to stress, etc.) is part of their recruitment into the basic components of the integrated rescue system. Subsequently, their lifelong learning process includes post-traumatic care, strengthening resilience and the ability to cope with traumatic and stressful events, prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder, prevention of psychological distress or burnout syndrome, etc. Taking into account the above-mentioned facts, the basic components of the integrated rescue system have a system of providing post-traumatic care, and the characteristics of each system and the issue of providing this care is the subject of this paper .

This article deals primarily with the protection of the population in the Czech Republic, as it is a very important security area of the highest priority. The population protection system in the Czech Republic is briefly explained, which has been fully under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic since 2001, but a number of other central administrative authorities (ministries, special institutes and institutions, research institutes) are also involved in its implementation. In addition to legal standards and implementation decrees, the Czech Republic security strategy and the concept of population protection are also presented. A separate part is devoted to the last valid Population Protection Concept from 2021, and it is emphasized here that the concept places great importance on the population’s preparedness for dealing with extraordinary events and crisis situations. The Model Action Activity of the Integrated Rescue System in the Czech Republic is presented in the next section. Although many model action activities have already been published in the Czech Republic, unfortunately such a safety management plan has not yet been published for the extremely hazardous natural disaster „Tornado“. This subsection briefly explains how the Intergreted Rescue system intervenes in emergency and crisis situations. A separate part is devoted to the hazardous and strong tornado in Moravia in 2021, where a total of 6 people lost their lives and another 200 were injured, many were hospitalized. Material damage after the tornado’s rampage climbed to dizzying heights. The wave of solidarity with the affected population has reached unprecedented proportions not only in the Czech Republic. At the end of the contribution, the authors present their own proposal for the future, how to continue working in this area, from the preparation and convening of a national security conference in the Czech Republic to the preparation and publication of the Model Action Activity of the Integrated Rescue System in the Czech Republic in the disaster event of a tornado.

The period in which countries around the world, including the Czech Republic, found themselves at the end of 2021 was characterized by a number of very significant political and security threats and risks. It was a period in which the next wave of the pandemic situation associated with the COVID-19 disease was manifesting itself. Even though the Czech Republic was already much better prepared for the problems associated with the outbreak of this disease, it could not be said that it was managing everything well, without problems and within the political consensus of all ruling and opposition parties. Based on results achieved in the elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, which took place in October 2021, the priorities of the winning parties grouped into one government coalition were set. These priorities were presented in the form of a coalition agreement to the public. A paper deals with the anticipated intentions of the Government of the Czech Republic in its implementation for the 2021-2025 electoral period in the issues of safety and security in all aspects of their perception. Among the aspects examined were the areas of security policy implementation and the broader concept of population protection. In the paper, the terms “security” and “protection” are frequented in the number and form in which they appear in the text of the coalition agreement. The paper presents the occurrence of these terms in the documents that became the basic and initial documents for establishing mutual pre-election cooperation between political parties and movements. Last but not least, it also presents changes in the approach to these concepts in relation to coalition agreements concluded in 2013 and 2017. Other aspects of coalition agreements are deliberately not mentioned.

The purpose of civil-military cooperation is to exchange resources and information to effectively manage different types of disasters. In this regard, civil-military cooperation in disaster preparedness should increase coherence in the area of information sharing and mutual support. The purpose of this study is to examine how cooperation between municipal institutions and the same nation’s military meets these requirements. The results presented in the article show that cooperation between municipal institutions and military personnel of the same nation is similar to civilian and military cooperation in international missions or disaster relief. This cooperation is based on a mutual understanding of the value of cooperation; willingness to cooperate and mutual support. At the same time, there are objective obstacles to the effectiveness of cooperation in disaster preparedness between municipal institutions and the military, mainly related to legal regulation, bureaucracy and hierarchy, often impeding the dissemination of information and undermining mutual trust between institutions. The study found that simplification of existing legislation, detailed planning process, information sharing during joint exercises and other joined activities would be important factors in improving civil (municipal)-military cooperation in disaster preparedness.