Contemporary Understanding of Security and Its Contexts

Volatility is one of the most characteristic features of contemporary security.
The level of threats increases or decreases, completely new phenomena appear
and quickly disturb the global balance and threaten the durability of security
systems. This dynamic nature of security verifies both the state and process, as
well as their understanding by researchers.
The monograph refers to key aspects of the contemporary understanding of
security, in its military, political, social, and informational context, as well
as other dimensions. It presents and analyzes the identification criteria and
determinants of security and characterizes the nature of contemporary threats
and the dynamics of their changes. Armed conflicts, terrorism, migration,
digital threats, loss of national identity, and populist use of security categories
to justify the use of extraordinary measures to combat threats are among the
selected areas discussed by the authors. The monograph also raises the issues
of cooperation for security, its management and education for security as a key
activity to ensure it.

Bernard Wis´niewski is the Director of the Centre for Research Methodology in
Security Sciences at the WSB University in Da˛browa Górnicza. He specializes in
the following issues: theory and methodology of security, security management,
national defence, and internal security of the state.
Paulina Polko is an associate professor at the WSB University in Da˛browa
Górnicza (Faculty of Applied Sciences) and the head of the Security Studies
Department. Her research interests focus on securitization, security policy and
new categories of security.