Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues

In the last few decades, the understanding of security has been changing. New areas emerged which may influence security facets, which were not urgent earlier. Now those facets can endanger individual persons or even states. Breaches of cyber security, separate attacks or intense cyber wars are becoming more usual than conventional wars in the physical space; violations of cyber security may cause great damage, ruin businesses or even temporarily paralyze full-fledged functioning of individual states or regions. Many countries of the world, realizing that such a threat is real, adopted Cyber Security Strategies; for some countries, this is not the first version of such a strategy. This article examines the place of Cyber Security Strategies in the system of state documents, the nature and importance of such strategies as well as whether they are binding on individuals and institutions. The article explores in more detail the principles of ensuring cyber security provided for in such strategies, i.e. the principles identified by the states, as important for ensuring cyber security. It is discussed why these principles are so different in the strategies of individual states.

This paper is based on case studies research focusing on innovative ambidexterity as well as on the concept of dynamic capabilities. The aim of the paper is to identify a similarities and connect these two approaches. The analysis is centered on the exploration and exploitation activities which then are compiled into dynamic capabilities leading to innovations. The findings in the paper demonstrate that the somewhat elusive concept of dynamic capabilities can be untangled through the use of exploration and exploitation activities. The dynamic capabilities and the associated innovative ambidexterity create flows of innovative products and services that in turn lead toward the creation of sustained competitive advantages. The paper demonstrates that the existing research on innovative ambidexterity activities can be a key contributor to increasing our understanding of dynamic capabilities. This finding is valuable for both researchers and practitioners.

Violent crimes by the degree of public danger and the severity of the caused damage far exceed other criminal manifestations. Rapers disseminate the stereotype of aggressively-violent behaviour in the domestic and leisure microenvironment. These criminal offences are mostly condemned from the point of view of the general human morality. The aim of the present article is to examine the impact of socio-economic development level of a country on the level of violent crimes which are committed in that country. Successful prevention of a violent crime, which infringes on such important values as a human’s life and health, demands scrutinizing of its causes. Any crime, the violent one in particular, is not as a rule the result of one cause but is a combination of external and internal factors. The qualitative analysis conducted within the research has proved the conclusion that there is a definite connection between the socioeconomic development level of a country and the trend of the proportion of particular crime types that dominate in it. In less developed countries the proportion of violent crimes is much higher than in the developed ones, where thefts and other crimes against property prevail.

Energy security is conditioned by numerous factors, among which solutions and patterns of energy storage play important role. Electrical energy storage (EES) is the process by which energy is stored from the power network to a form which can be used later when converted back to electrical energy. There are various ways by which electrical energy can be stored for future purposes. Nowadays, the electrical energy is mainly stored in pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES) that comprises about 99% of EES worldwide and the battery energy storage (BES) that uses chemical energy with both methods yielding characteristic advantages and disadvantages. Electrical energy is mainly stored when there is low demand and when there is high generation of power at low costs. The energy is then used when there is high demand of power and the generation cost is high or when there are no other means of generating electrical energy. Electrical energy storage has many uses such as in the electrical devices, motor vehicles and stationery energy resources and is gaining special attention with the widespread usage of renewable energy sources (RES).

Social-economic security – is a basic need, both in the life of an individual, household, and in various associations of people, society and state in common. Security serves as the main condition of life of people in a certain area, that reflects as a more equal distribution of the benefits, as an economic efficiency, a a social-economic stability and security. Municipalities, realizing their specific functions, serves as primary guarantee of social-economic security of the population. Article discusses methodological aspects of the assessment of social-economic security of the state in common, as well as administrative territories of local government in particular. Article deals also with statistical indicators of social-economic security at the local level. Authors has generalized an integral indicator of social-economic development of the municipalities, that helped to estimate the level of social-economic security in the territories of municipalities in Latvia.

Agriculture constitutes a very important sector in the Slovak economy that generates in addition to the basic food production also services, provides jobs, has a significant impact on regional development and provides nutrition of the population. One of decisive factors influencing the economic stability of agriculture is production efficiency which is strongly linked to support policy, through which partially is ensured the financial availability of enterprises. The use of subsidies by the EU is very important tool for ensuring economic sustainability of agriculture in the Slovak Republic conditions. The aim of this paper is economic evaluation of primary agricultural production in manufacturing and economic conditions in the Slovak Republic and their alternative comparison with selected EU Member States. The paper also refers to differences in level of subsidies in selected countries in the EU and their impact on possibilities of investing funds into the production development. Our calculations showed that without the intervention of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU (especially subsidy policy) would be Slovak agriculture economically unprofitable, what could lead to its failure.

Financial globalization created an environment for structured product development in financial markets. With the help of these instruments it is possible to transform an asset into a new investment vehicle, that opens new investment possibilities for risk averse investors, along with those investors who are searching for higher yield. This paper analyses different structured products and their influence on investment management using ratio analysis, Markowitz portfolio optimization model and Monte Carlo simulation. Analysis revealed that structured products have a significant positive effect on investment management on diversification and yield enhancement sides.

Stability and functioning of entrepreneurial environment in accordance with the principles of lawfulness is regarded as an essential prerequisite for sustainable development of a country operating under the market economy conditions. Allowed use of illegal duress, including violence, against entrepreneurs directly and unequivocally poses a threat to sustainable existence of society and country. For instance, the so-called Reiderstvo or asset-grabbing is regarded as one of the numerous risks in entrepreneurship which makes investing into the Russian economy less attractive than it should objectively be. In the same way, violent and intimidating actions may seriously endanger stability and sustainability of entrepreneurial environment. The abovementioned is recognised by the laws of the Republic of Latvia which respectively criminalise a range of wrongful acts in which force and fear or violence and different types of threatening are mentioned as one of the essential elements of offence. The same way, the Civil Law of Latvia points to unacceptability of unlawful application of force in legal transactions. Therefore, the contemporary legal norm maker, enforcer and defender needs in-depth understanding of the essence of the concept of force and fear and logical interrelations thereof. Since the origins of the idea of the legal framework of force and fear, just like of many other contemporary legal thought phenomena, go back to Roman law, understanding of the legal concept of force and fear is impossible without a thorough study of primary sources of Roman law. This research was developed guided by the abovementioned reasons. Under this research, the legal essence of force (vis – Latin) and fear (metus – Latin) was identified, the signs characteristic of them and criteria qualifying them were analysed. The mechanism of sanctions provided for in relation to unlawful use of force and fear was studied. The methodology for identifying the person liable for force and fear, i.e. the defendant, was reviewed. Procedural mechanisms and conditions for settlement of disputes were studied.

Public procurement as a system of procedures for purchasing goods and services is quite complex. Especially having in mind international legal regulation and high requirements for the assurance of such principles as transparency, fair competition, non-discrimination, mutual recognition, proportionality. Thus from the other side of the issue, in special fields as defence and national security, it is not always possible to strictly observe the mentioned rules. Institutions in a state, which is facing threats, must be able to flexibly; this would allow balancing the urgency and competiveness of purchasing procedures. Still such situations require clear managing system and legal regulation supporting it. In this article, the authors present the preliminary analysis of management of public procurement for defence and security via disaster management cycle theory and mostly focus on the phase of response towards certain destructive actions. The managerial aspect of the issue is supplemented by the analysis of the legal regulation, which should support managerial processes. Having in mind that in different phases of the disaster management cycle, different methods of management (requiring special legal regulation, as legitimation of such actions) should be applied, examples of two countries are presented. Lithuania as a member state of European Union is chosen to illustrate the reflections of managerial processes in legal acts, which are passed in the phases of mitigation and preparedness. Ukrainian example is presented to illustrate the difficulties, which state may face, when managerial processes as well as legitimation thereof in legal regulations are developed in the phase of response. To answer these questions, literature review, comparison, analyses of documents, synthesis and other methods were used. It is concluded that the public procurement processes definitely should be prepared in advance and every state should be ready for the urgent purchases before the direct threats for security appears. Ukrainian example shows, how it is difficult, costly and requiring other efforts to develop these processes and implement it in the same time. It should be mentioned that raised questions are in the constant process of learning and this article should be considered as a primary steps towards deep analysis of the continuity of state actions in the situations of real threats and tensions, which Europe is facing today.

Circular economy conception is a result of development of sustainability. Since 1987, when the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) has developed and published the document “Our Common Future”, numerous institutions monitor sustainable development (SD) at global, national or regional level. Recently The European Commission adopted a Circular Economy Package, which consists of an EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy that establishes a concrete programme of action, with measures covering the whole cycle and sets out the timeline when the actions will be complete. This paper analyses and tries to answer a question about what should be taking into account setting circular economy indicators.