CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES AND THREATS TO THE STATE'S EXTERNAL SECURITY

Abstract

Security is one of the most fundamental values and a precondition for the stable development of individuals, societies, and states. This article examines the catalog of contemporary threats to the external security of the state and clarifies the scope and objectives of security as an analytical category. It distinguishes between internal and external, national and international security, and reviews the principal scholarly approaches to defining national security, drawing on the Polish and international literature. Particular attention is devoted to the institutional dimension of security – the role of state bodies, local government, and non-governmental actors acting within a single, coherent national security system – and to the transformation of the threat environment from predominantly military threats toward hybrid, informational, cyber, financial, and social ones. The study argues that, alongside institutional capacity, security education and public awareness function as a “safety valve” that mitigates the effects of contemporary threats, and that no state can sustain lasting security without international cooperation.