Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

The study deals with the role of volunteering and reserve forces in the security and defence systems of selected European states in the context of a changing security environment. It focuses on the institutional and personnel anchoring of voluntary military service, active reserves and other forms of involvement of the wider public in the defence of the state, both in the field of armed forces and in the broader framework of internal security and crisis management. It seems increasingly clear that volunteer and reserve models are becoming a key tool for strengthening defence capacities, increasing the resilience of the state and deepening civil-military cooperation, especially in conditions of limited personnel resources of professional armies. The text also points out the differences between the individual states under review (Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) in terms of the degree of integration of volunteers, the scope of their tasks, the intensity of training and their relationship to compulsory military service. Attention is also paid to a certain extent to informal or insufficiently regulated security activities, including the potential for their politicisation or misuse by extremist actors. The study aims to contribute to the expert debate on the possibilities of effectively involving volunteer potential in complex national defence systems. The paper advances the argument that volunteering is no longer a peripheral addition to defence systems, but constitutes a structural pillar of modern defence architectures, particularly in states relying on professional armed forces and whole-of-society approaches.

The military forces and means are used to fulfill humanitarian tasks of civil protection and to fulfill the tasks of the Police of the Czech Republic in serious situations endangering lives, health, property, or the environment. If the responsible administrative authorities, territorial self-governing bodies, fire protection authorities, or military rescue units are unable to provide rescue work or liquidate the consequences of a disaster on their own, the military is called. In addition to conventional defense tasks, it is therefore necessary to ensure the overall preparation of all components of the army for the performance of other tasks in cooperation with civilian authorities in their own territory. The paper focuses on the issues of civil-military cooperation, active advances and current capabilities of the Army of the Czech Republic in providing cooperation in rescue and liquidation work in the regions of the Czech Republic. The analysis of this issue identified the key aspects and for the subsequent determination of the evaluation criteria, the multi-criteria method was applied. The authors suggest certain procedures for updating the current situation that could be applicable in practice.

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.