Politics & Security is an open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal published quarterly since 2017 by the Higher School of Security and Economics, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and operated by ESS-Press. Issues appear in March, June, September and December. English has been the primary language of publication since 2021, giving the journal a broad international readership. Focus and Scope. The journal publishes original peer-reviewed research at the intersection of political science, security studies, public administration, law, and the economic dimensions of security. Its core areas are: national and international security; governance under security pressure; financial and economic instruments of statecraft; legal frameworks regulating security policy. Manuscripts outside these thematic boundaries are not considered. All content is freely available on publication, without embargo. ISSN 2815-3324 (Online) · ISSN 2535-0358 (Print)
Academy of National and Information Security, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
The quest for security has accompanied humanity throughout its evolutionary development, from the Stone Age to the present day. Security is identified with a state of protection, with the physical and moral survival of the individual, with their freedom and rights, and with their spiritual and social development. This defines the multifaceted nature of the concept of “security,” which centers on the individual and society. Human security has many dimensions, of which food security is vital. Given its significance, the management of food security is a matter of state policy and national security. This article traces the origins, evolution, and current state of food security on a global, European, and national scale.
Copyright (c) 2026 Mihail Mihaylov, Valentina Nikolova-Alexieva https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES FOR JAPAN'S INTERNATIONAL POLICY IN THE CONTEXT OF SECURITY AND DEFENSE
This article examines the evolution and contemporary challenges of Japan’s external security and defence policy. Setting the discussion in its historical context – from the more than two centuries of isolation under the Tokugawa shogunate, through the modernisation of the Meiji Restoration and the militarism that ended in defeat in the Second World War – the study traces how Japan’s post-war security posture was shaped by the 1946 Constitution, the pacifist commitment of its Article 9, and the establishment of the Self-Defense Forces. It analyses the central role of the alliance with the United States, Japan’s growing engagement in East and Southeast Asia, and the ongoing debate over constitutional revision in response to a changing regional environment. Particular attention is devoted to the contemporary threats confronting Japan – the rise of China, a nuclear-armed North Korea, and unresolved territorial disputes with Russia, China, and South Korea – and to Japan’s efforts to strengthen its defence capabilities while balancing dependence on the United States against aspirations to regional leadership.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dawid Jakimiec https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
UNITY UNDER PRESSURE: THE EUROPEAN UNION’S FOREIGN POLICY AFTER 24 FEBRUARY 2022
This article examines the dynamics of European foreign policy unity after February 24, 2022. The main question is whether the unity demonstrated after the Russian aggression against Ukraine represents a sustainable institutional consolidation or a temporary mobilization under the pressure of a crisis. The study uses a legal-institutional and political-analytical approach, examining the Common Foreign and Security Policy through five tests: aid to Ukraine, the trade pressure of the Donald Trump administration, the Israel-Gaza conflict, the crisis around Iran, and the Greenland case. The analysis shows that the EU can formulate a common position when external pressure is strong enough, but it has difficulty turning this position into an independent strategic capability. The main conclusion is that future European foreign policy should seek a model of interaction between willing states that overcome the paralyzing effect of unanimity without destroying the institutional architecture of the Union.
Copyright (c) 2026 Vasil Georgiev https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS IN THE ARMED FORCES: CHALLENGES AND DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES
This article examines the theoretical and practical dimensions of strategic communications as an essential component of contemporary military operations. It explores the concept of strategic communications within the context of the armed forces, tracing its evolution and examining its role in strengthening national security. The study analyzes the core components of military strategic communications, including information and psychological influence, public affairs, civil-military cooperation, and operations in the information environment. It identifies the principal challenges to the effective implementation of strategic communications in the armed forces, including the absence of a unified doctrinal framework, insufficient personnel training, and the lack of a systematic approach to communication planning. Drawing upon the experience of NATO member states and the current practices of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the article proposes key directions for improving the strategic communications system. Particular attention is devoted to the role of strategic communications in the context of hybrid warfare and information confrontation. The findings may serve as a basis for further reform of military communication structures, the development of doctrinal and policy documents, and the professional training of military communication specialists.
Copyright (c) 2026 Kateryna Tiazhkorob https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT AND THE CHALLENGES OF ENHANCED EU INFORMATION SHARING: THE CASE OF BULGARIA
Global trends and the ongoing dynamic processes of trans-border security threats necessitate an unprecedented intensification of intelligence sharing among European Union (EU) Member States, which also reflects on the strengthening of parliamentary oversight of intelligence services. These changes require the application of an integral approach to understanding potential risks and threats, in order to increase awareness and the effectiveness of parliamentary control over intelligence agencies. On one hand, enhanced cooperation in information exchange within the EU strengthens collective security, but simultaneously creates significant difficulties regarding the control and accountability of national intelligence services and institutions. This study demonstrates that overcoming these gaps can largely be achieved by increasing their effective monitoring and parliamentary oversight. This article aims to explore the models of parliamentary intelligence oversight and reveal the challenges they face under the conditions of intensive information exchange within the EU. A special focus is placed on Bulgarian parliamentary practice and its institutional framework. Through the case of Bulgaria, the article examines and reveals the paradoxes of parliamentary control in light of international obligations and requirements for democratic transparency. The research results indicate that current oversight models lag behind the networked nature of contemporary intelligence cooperation. Proposals are made to strengthen inter-parliamentary cooperation within the EU through information-sharing agreements.
Copyright (c) 2026 Nelly Bencheva https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY SERVICES: REGULATORY AND ETHICAL CHALLENGES OF BALANCING OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY WITH DEMOCRATIC OVERSIGHT
Purpose. The article examines how democratic states can govern the use of artificial intelligence in intelligence and security services without undermining operational effectiveness. It addresses the tension between AI-enabled speed, scale, and pattern detection, on the one hand, and legality, accountability, privacy, and democratic oversight, on the other. Methods. The study applies qualitative comparative legal and policy analysis. It combines review of regulatory instruments, intelligence oversight models, and AI ethics literature with a structured comparison of the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel. The article also develops an original analytical model, the Security–Oversight Balance framework. Findings. AI is already reshaping intelligence work through open-source intelligence analysis, signals intelligence triage, biometric identification, predictive threat analytics, cyber intelligence, and decision-support tools. Existing governance regimes are uneven. The EU has adopted a rights-based risk model through the AI Act, but national security exemptions remain significant. The United States relies more heavily on executive policy, agency guidance, and national security memoranda. The United Kingdom has a mature investigatory powers regime but lacks a dedicated AI-specific intelligence statute. Israel demonstrates a security-driven and innovation-oriented model with more limited public transparency. Across all cases, the central risks are algorithmic bias, opacity, mission creep, weak auditability, and the displacement of responsibility from human decision-makers to technical systems. Conclusions. Democratic oversight of AI in intelligence should not be treated as an obstacle to security capacity. It is a condition of legitimate and sustainable security governance. The proposed Security–Oversight Balance framework recommends four linked safeguards: legal authorization, technical auditability, managerial accountability, and ethical proportionality. The article argues for classified but reviewable AI registers, mandatory human accountability for consequential decisions, independent technical audit capacity, and international minimum standards for AI use in security services.
Copyright (c) 2026 Andrii Lyseiuk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVANTAGE IN OPERATIONAL AND TACTICAL INTELLIGENCE: A FORCE AMPLIFIER FOR UKRAINE
The article analyses the core problems of intelligence superiority as a premise for prevailing in modern warfare. Addressing the problem in a situational context, related to the high-intensity war in Ukraine, the study defines the intangible non-material prerequisites Ukraine needs to pursue to achieve it. The article then highlights the key elements of intelligence advantage on a tactical and operational level and suggests avenues to further enhance and uphold it as a force amplifier for Ukraine. Moreover, these elements are identified as a set of interrelated and interdependent factors, stemming directly from the unified objectives of the overall battlefield engagement. The article argues that battlefield intelligence should be directed at countering the efforts of the adversary to gain tactical and operational surprise, disrupting their capacity to execute their tactical doctrine, thus denying them their preferred and prepared style of warfare. It goes on to explore the tools that intelligence structure may use to further empower the drone warfare. Furthermore, the article reveals specific avenues to transform the advantage in tactical and operational intelligence into decisive superiority through combining different, but interlinked intelligence priorities that trace a distinctive course of action ultimately leading to a breakthrough in the war. Finally, the study highlights several key requirements that would enable the Ukrainian intelligence system to unfold its potential as a force amplifier, including an upper hand in frontline intelligence technology, all-source data integration, enhancing the interlink between the net-centric approach and drone warfare, and elevating tactical and operational intelligence to the status of a strategic instrument.
Copyright (c) 2026 Vasil Stankov https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES AND THREATS TO THE STATE'S EXTERNAL SECURITY
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.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jan Jakimiec https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
FROM RADICALIZATION TO REINTEGRATION: MEASURING THE EFFICACY OF COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICIES IN POST-CONFLICT SOCIETIES
The ontological paradox of reintegration is rarely formulated in such a straightforward manner: a society is requested to re-incorporate the same people whose cruelty has ripped its social fabric, and to do so without the wounds being suppurative, the institutional scaffolding half-collapsed, and the political incentives in a sharp mismatch. It is this conflict between the moral necessity to provide means of escape out of extremism on one side and the social unwillingness to forget what extremism has created on the other side that drives the whole post-conflict governance debate but is habitually papered over by programmatic optimism. The international policy framework has also changed to less kinetic Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) approaches rather than paradigms in the last 20 years, a move that was influenced less by ideological belief than by the sheer failure of detention-and-destroy paradigms to capture recruitment spurts. Based on a longitudinal comparative study of the Saudi Arabian theological rehabilitation model, the Danish Aarhus social-welfare experiment, and the fractured implementation environments of Iraq, northeastern Nigeria, and the Western Balkans, this article asks the question whether the conceptual machinery of the modern deradicalization programmes can survive exposure to post-conflict environments marked by institutional weakness, ethno-sectarian distrust, and the This data suggests a sobering conclusion that, where it happens, reintegration is not a restorative goal but a managed failure, a politically negotiated stalemate in which recidivism is contained and not solved, the stigma is redistributed and not removed, and measures of success are pegged not to human security results but to funding needs of donor states and implementation agencies.
Copyright (c) 2026 Anton Vysotskyi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND SECURITY GOVERNANCE: A CRITICAL DISCUSSION ON THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES IN THE MEXICAN ACCUSATORY CRIMINAL SYSTEM
This paper analyzes the constitutional principles governing criminal procedure in Mexico, understood as human rights and procedural guarantees that ensure respect for the dignity and fundamental rights of defendants, victims, and witnesses. Critically, the article situates these principles within the broader framework of security governance, examining how the 2008 constitutional reform that established the accusatory and oral criminal system was a direct institutional response to the security crisis generated by organized crime, drug cartel violence, and systemic impunity. Using a legal-descriptive methodology, the study reviews normative sources (the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States; the National Code of Criminal Procedure), doctrinal analysis, jurisprudential interpretation (Mexican Supreme Court), and comparative scholarship on criminal justice reform and security. The analysis identifies a fundamental tension between the procedural guarantees enshrined in Article 20 of the Constitution — including the presumption of innocence, publicity, adversarial proceedings, and due process — and the state's operational need to effectively prosecute organized crime, drug trafficking, corruption, and terrorism. The article concludes that the system's effectiveness as a security governance instrument depends on the genuine observance of these principles, institutional adaptation, and the consolidation of a human rights-based judicial culture capable of addressing high-complexity security threats without sacrificing constitutional guarantees.
Copyright (c) 2026 Martín Beltrán Saucedo, Elena Anatolievna Zhizhko, Stefanía Ávila Villaseñor https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
EMERGENCY GOVERNANCE AND RULE OF LAW: EVALUATING EXECUTIVE OVERREACH DURING NATIONAL SECURITY CRISES IN THE POST-PANDEMIC ERA
The article in question explores how much emergency governance structures that were implemented during and after the COVID-19 pandemic have become institutionalized aspects of executive power in three jurisdictions that can be seen to represent three different types of regimes, including Germany (consolidated democracy), Kenya (transitioning state), and Hungary (illiberal regime). Using the theorisation of the so-called state of exception by Giorgio Agamben and the dictum of Carl Schmitt that he who declares the exception is the sovereign, the study utilizes qualitative content analysis of 274 executive decrees and 83 high-court decisions released between March 2020 and December 2025. These results indicate that there is a quantifiable tendency towards executive aggrandizement in all three cases, but the processes and the size are quite different. In consolidated democracies, the loss of judicial control is gradual and usually concealed by procedural adherence, in illiberal regimes it is explicit and supported by the institution, and in transitional states it is periodic but structurally disruptive. The article then ends with a suggestion of a compulsory framework of Sunset Clause, a legislative structure that mandates time-limited authorisation, a regular review of parliament, and the automatic lapse of all the powers related to security as a remedy to the normalisation of exceptional governance.
Copyright (c) 2026 Mariya Petrova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
REGIME TYPE AND NATIONAL SECURITY OUTCOMES IN NIGERIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MILITARY AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
This paper examines the correlation between the regime type and national security outcomes in Nigeria between 1966 and 2025 based on the Civil–Military Relations (CMR) Theory. It looks at the dynamics of security in military rule (19661999) and the democratic rule in the fourth republic (19992025), and compares and contrasts their effectiveness in responding to emerging threats. The qualitative research design is a comparative historical-based study, which relies on secondary and documentary sources, and the content and comparative techniques will be used to interpret the findings. The results reveal that military regimes were based on centralized government and coercive force, which allowed responding quickly to the crisis and creating a temporary stability, especially during the civil war. Yet, these achievements were diluted by weak institutions, oppression, politicization of security systems, and low levels of trust in the government. Democratic rule brought about institutional changes, civilian control and diversified security policies including non-kinetic and regional partnership. However, the continued presence of insurgency, banditry, and communal violence are indicative of structural weaknesses, inadequate coordination, and policy implementation weaknesses. The comparative analysis reveals that although military rule brought short-term stability, it was unsustainable, and the democratic regime offers a more sustainable system even with uneven performance. The research comes to the conclusion that effective national security relies not on regime type but on the institutional capacity, the quality of governance, and legitimacy. It advises the reinforcement of oversight mechanisms, intensifying security sector reform, giving primacy to human-centered strategies, and institutional effectiveness to deliver sustainable security outcomes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Koffi Romeo Lawyerkeme, Emmanuel Tamaramiebi Timidi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
THE ALGORITHM OF INSURGENCY. THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE EFFECT OF AI-MEDIATED DISINFORMATION ON COGNITIVE SECURITY OF NATIONS.
The spread of sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) programs, in particular Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative adversarial networks that can create synthetic media (deepfakes), has opened a new and dangerous era in the history of information conflict. The main issue that this technological inflection point is raising, discussed in this article, is the development of AI as a force multiplier of disinformation campaigns that are high-frequency, hyper-personalized, and are increasingly indistinguishable to real human communication, bypassing the traditional safeguards of epistemology, and posing a national stability threat. This article presents two main points by using a multidisciplinary approach that combines the theories of security studies, behavioral psychology, and computational linguistics. To begin with, AI-based disinformation implies a qualitative shift in the paradigm of information warfare towards a more insidious one, whereby the strategic object of interest is not physical or cybernetic infrastructure but the perception of reality and epistemological underpinnings of the democratic society, by the individual citizen. Second, existing national security principles, which are based on the notions of territorial sovereignty and the deterrence of kinetic threats, are essentially unprepared to combat this automated, scalable, and to a large extent attributionless insurgency against the popular mind. The article concludes with the suggestion of an elaborate framework of Cognitive Defense, and states that national resilience in the twenty-first century would be achieved through systemic integration of technological countermeasures, the rise of media and information literacy to the rank of core security imperative, and the creation of binding international norms governing the use of AI in the information space.
Copyright (c) 2026 Herasym Dei https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
THE WEAPONIZATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE: ENERGY SECURITY AND THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE GREEN TRANSITION
The dominant narrative considers the green energy transition as a direction to energy autonomy and less geopolitical antagonism. This article questions that assumption. Based on US Geological Survey data on mineral production, trade flow statistics of the UN Comtrade database, and with the help of the International Energy Agency projections, this paper uses Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) analysis to measure the concentration of three key raw materials lithium, cobalt, and graphite. The comparative case study of EU and US legislative reactions, in particular, the Critical Raw Materials Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, charts the policy architecture of de-risking. Results indicate that the midstream processing segment of CRM supply chains is more concentrated than petroleum during the OPEC period with one jurisdiction dominating between 58 and 87 percent of all battery-grade material refining worldwide. The discussion puts these findings into the context of the interdependence theory of Keohane and Nye, that the transition is not a liquidation of energy-based power asymmetries but a reorganization into more inflexible, less replaceable choke points. The article concludes that strategic pluralism in response to supply chain weaponization in the emerging mineral-security order is the only possible option; that is, diversifying not only suppliers but also the underlying technologies.
Copyright (c) 2026 Katarzyna Tamara Rud https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
SECURITY AND CONTEMPORARY THREATS – RECONFIGURATION OF PARADIGMS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF SECURITY
The aim of this article is to analyse the evolution of security paradigms and their reconfiguration in the face of multidimensional threats of the third decade of the 21st century. The authors juxtapose Thomas Hobbes’ classical theory of contractualism with modern concepts of the risk society proposed by Ulrich Beck and Yuval Noah Harari, and with empirical material from 2023–2026. The article addresses the problem of the insufficiency of a state‑centric model of security in the face of contemporary transnational, ecosystemic and algorithmic risks. The method applied combines a critical review of the literature with secondary data analysis based on reports of key national institutions (CBOS, GUS, ZUS, NASK, WIB) and international organisations (Eurostat, WEF, EIB). The study reveals a pronounced “bipolarity” in the perception of security: high stability at the local level is accompanied by an escalation of existential fears. The key vectors of uncertainty are identified as: geopolitical (63% fear for sovereignty), technological (the phenomenon of “domesticated uncertainty”), ecosystemic (68% indicating climate threat) and an institutional trust crisis (57% lack of trust in the justice system). The article argues that in 2026 security becomes a process of continuous reconfiguration, and the traditional Leviathan model gives way to the “e‑Sovereign” and algorithmic management of existence. The conclusions point to the need to move from Hobbesian territorial realism toward building systemic resilience and strengthening the autonomous agency of the individual in an asymmetric international environment.
Copyright (c) 2026 Wojciech Pac, Hubert Cyran https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ECONOMIC SECURITY AND PROFITABILITY ASSESSMENT OF MILK PRODUCTION ON FRAGMENTED FARMS IN SOUTHEASTERN POLAND (2020–2024)
This article assesses the profitability and economic security of milk production on fragmented, small-scale farms in southeastern Poland over 2020–2024. The analysis is motivated by two concurrent realities. First, fragmentation creates persistent structural constraints—small herds, dispersed plots, weaker bargaining position, and higher transaction costs—that shape the unit cost of production and the realised milk price. Second, the 2020–2024 period exposed farms to pronounced volatility in both output prices and key inputs, particularly feed and energy, which are dominant cost drivers in dairy production. The study adopts a transparency-oriented design that combines (i) authoritative market monitoring of raw milk prices at EU level, (ii) Polish sector evidence and cost-structure context, and (iii) a partial-budgeting stress test that translates plausible price–cost conditions into unit margins (PLN per litre) and evaluates margin fragility under moderate shocks. The results show that under plausible benchmark conditions, representative fragmented farms can operate with very thin buffers and may remain near or below break-even across multiple years when input costs rise faster than milk prices or when milk prices correct while costs remain elevated. Sensitivity scenarios indicate that even moderate adverse movements—such as a 10% decrease in the realised milk price or a 10% increase in feed costs—can deepen negative margins, weakening liquidity and delaying investment. The paper concludes that economic security for fragmented dairy farms depends on risk exposure in feed and energy costs, on productivity and forage strategies, and on organisational solutions such as cooperation that can reduce transaction costs and strengthen market position. Policy implications emphasise targeted modernisation and resilience-building instruments that are compatible with fragmented land structures rather than assuming rapid consolidation as the only pathway to viability.
Copyright (c) 2026 Janusz Kilar, Mateusz Kaczmarski, Piotr Frączek, Magdalena Kilar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
FINANCIAL SECURITY AS A KEY ELEMENT SUPPORTING SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT – A THEORETICAL APPROACH
The main objective of this article is to demonstrate the importance of financial security for supporting the sustainable development of an enterprise. A review of the definitions of financial security was conducted, emphasising its multifaceted nature, properties and functions, and indicating the tools and instruments that enable its effective management. The article demonstrates that financial security guarantees the continuity and development of a company, supports the long-term planning process and protects the company from internal and external threats. The theoretical analysis confirms the hypothesis that financial security is a key condition for the implementation of the concept of sustainable development.
Copyright (c) 2026 Urszula Szczytyńska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
DECENTRALIZED FINANCE (DEFI) AND SANCTIONS EVASION: A RISK ANALYSIS OF MIXERS AND PRIVACY COINS IN FINANCING NATIONAL SECURITY THREATS
The expansion of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Anonymity-Enhancing Technologies (AETs) has complicated the tracking of illicit financial flows. This article analyzes three distinct AETs—Tornado Cash, Monero, and Zcash—to assess how specific protocol mechanisms degrade transaction‑graph attribution and obstruct compliance. Synthesizing technical literature, AML/CFT frameworks, and recent judicial documentation, the study traces how design choices translate into investigative challenges. The analysis yields three key findings. First, “decentralization” rarely eliminates control; instead, it shifts choke points to infrastructure layers such as bridges and RPC providers. Second, while AETs significantly raise attribution costs, their effectiveness is often conditional and dependent on usage patterns. Third, the Tornado Cash enforcement saga illustrates the limitations of applying traditional sanctions to autonomous code. The paper concludes by proposing a mitigation agenda focused on measurable risk reduction at entry/exit points without compromising legitimate privacy.
Copyright (c) 2026 Andrii Svintsytskyi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
COGNITIVE SECURITY AND INSTITUTIONAL TRUST: A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGNS TARGETING THE LEGITIMACY OF JUDICIAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT INSTITUTIONS
Disinformation campaigns increasingly operate as hybrid influence tactics that undermine institutional trust by contesting the epistemic authority of courts and law enforcement. This article develops a sociological account of cognitive security as a governance-relevant capacity: the ability of individuals and communities to maintain reliable belief-updating under conditions of strategic information manipulation. Building on established research on information disorder, misinformation diffusion, and resistance to correction, the article specifies a mechanism linking disinformation to institutional legitimacy. The mechanism combines (i) narrative frames that recode procedural outcomes as political repression or corruption, (ii) repeated exposure within high-engagement networks that accelerates diffusion of low-credibility claims, and (iii) cognitive and motivational frictions that hinder correction, including continued-influence effects. The analysis synthesizes peer-reviewed evidence on misinformation spread and correction and comparative survey indicators of institutional confidence to derive empirically testable expectations about when disinformation is most likely to translate into trust erosion. Boundary conditions and competing explanations—such as pre-existing polarization, performance-based dissatisfaction, and media-market fragmentation—are specified to avoid overattribution. The contribution is twofold: conceptually, it ties cognitive security to legitimacy processes in legal and policing institutions; methodologically, it outlines a transparent evidence-selection and triangulation protocol suitable for comparative research and policy evaluation.
Copyright (c) 2026 Maryna Dei https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION IN SYRIA AND CONCEPTUAL THREATS TO BULGARIA'S NATIONAL SECURITY
The article represents a retrospective analysis of the military-political and geostrategic dynamics in Syria. The author seeks to identify the major driving forces influencing the development, the repercussions, and the outcome of the internal confrontations that have been ravaging the Syrian society throughout history. The article argues that, depending on the geopolitical and historical context, these forces would either instigate conflict, or be a converging factor around common national interest. Similarly, they would generate long-term tension and pave the way to foreign intervention, or instead, if steered in that direction, they would lead to temporary appeasement and reconciliation. Furthermore, the Salafi jihadist movements, their inception and activities are described as one of the recent driving forces shaping the current security environment in Syria. The article concludes with the affirmation that revealing the ex-post mechanism of the geopolitical factors is a way to forecast their future development, thus uncovering the emergence of potential threats to the national security of Bulgaria. Finally, the infiltration of foreign fighters, radicalization, and soft targets are highlighted as the gravest possible threats requiring a clear precautionary response.
Copyright (c) 2026 Kostadin Kostov https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
SOVEREIGNTY THROUGH SELECTIVE INTEGRATION: STRATEGIC NON-COMPLIANCE, COMPLIANCE MINIMALISM, AND GOVERNANCE HARDENING IN EU CRISIS POLITICS
This article identifies Central Europe as a laboratory and stress-test for internal disintegration within the European Union, where states use the Union’s own rules to advance sovereignty-first agendas from inside membership. The Visegrad Group’s shift from a cohesive veto bloc during the 2015 migration crisis to fracture after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, alongside Hungary’s consolidation of a migration security doctrine within the EU, point to a shared underlying pattern. The article theorises this pattern as sovereignty through selective integration and specifies its operation through three interlocking practices: strategic non-compliance, compliance minimalism, and governance hardening. Drawing on earlier case study work on the Visegrad Group and on Hungary, the analysis shows how this triad operates at both regional and national scales, why it stabilised during the migration crisis, and why it fractured under conditions of direct hard security exposure. The article clarifies the scope conditions under which selective integration can endure, the circumstances under which it breaks down, and the ways in which it produces internal disintegration without formal exit. It concludes by outlining implications for EU crisis governance and by indicating how the proposed triad can travel to other domains, including fiscal policy, digital regulation, and internal security.
Copyright (c) 2026 Yassine Guennoun https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ECONOMIC WARFARE IN THE BLACK SEA: A GEOECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF COERCION THROUGH GRAIN, BLOCKADES, AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE
This article examines economic warfare in the Black Sea as a geoeconomic contest over three interdependent systems: (i) grain and agri‑food logistics, (ii) maritime trade and insurance, and (iii) offshore and coastal energy infrastructure. Using open‑source process tracing and qualitative document analysis of peer‑reviewed studies, official datasets and reports, and policy assessments published primarily in 2022–2025, the paper reconstructs how coercive actions in one domain propagate through shipping routes, risk pricing, and energy‑security expectations. Three mechanisms are identified. First, disruption of export corridors reconfigures the distribution of bargaining power by raising transaction costs and amplifying domestic price discounts for Ukrainian producers. Second, war‑risk and sanctions compliance convert military pressure into insurance and financing constraints that shift trade away from the Black Sea and towards longer, costlier routes. Third, repeated attacks and hybrid interference against energy assets increase systemic uncertainty and alter investment and resilience decisions well beyond the immediate theatre. The article argues that these mechanisms operate as mutually reinforcing channels of coercion: the effect is not only the denial of specific cargo flows or megawatts, but the strategic manipulation of expectations and contractual risk allocation in regional markets. The contribution is conceptual and policy‑relevant: it specifies observable indicators for tracing economic coercion in maritime regions and delineates boundary conditions, limitations, and alternative interpretations for causal claims in open‑source research.
Retraction Notice: EXPLORING THE INFLUENCE OF ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE ON FISH PRODUCTION IN RURAL-BANGLADESH
Retraction Notice Article title: EXPLORING THE INFLUENCE OF ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE ON FISH PRODUCTION IN RURAL-BANGLADESH Authors: Linda Bairagi, Harun-Ar-Rashid, Mahrufur Rahman, Tanjila Sheikh, Tanbir Hossain Originally published in: Politics & Security, Vol. 12, Issue 2, pp. 32-40 DOI: https://doi.org/10.54658/ps.28153324.2025.12.2.pp.32-40 The editorial board of Politics & Security has decided to retract the above article due to duplicate publication. After the publication in this journal, it was found that the same article had been published in Journal of Social and Political Sciences and Development Studies (https://paperssds.eu/index.php/JSPSDS/article/view/864), in violation of the COPE Code of Conduct and the journal’s Publication Ethics Policy. The retraction has been approved by the Editor-in-Chief. Date of retraction: 30/10/2025 Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Igor Britchenko Politics & Security
Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
DOG WHISTLES AND CAT SENSES – HIDDEN EXTREMISM AND THE FRAMEWORK ОF LEGAL OVERSIGHT IN EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS CASE LAW
This paper examines the challenges posed by hidden extremist messages communicated through coded language, memes, irony, and discursively veiled expressions within the framework of the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) case law. It develops a methodological framework for assessing such speech, drawing on discourse analysis, speech act theory, and the concept of “dog whistle” communication. Through an analysis of ECtHR and selected national decisions, the study highlights the tension between safeguarding freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and addressing disguised incitement to hatred or violence. It argues that courts must adapt their interpretative tools to account for the evolving forms of extremist rhetoric in digital environments, where messages often operate simultaneously on multiple semantic levels.
Copyright (c) 2025 Vasil Georgiev https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
SECURITY CHALLENGES OF IOT INTEGRATION IN NATIONAL AND STATE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES
This investigation scrutinizes the incorporation of Internet of Things (IoT) systems within national infrastructures, accentuating both operational advantages and notable security challenges. It delves into the stratified architecture of IoT, underscoring vulnerabilities that emerge from device constraints, varied deployment environments, and inadequate cybersecurity practices. The examination addresses external threats such as distributed denial-of-service attacks, malware, and data manipulation, in conjunction with internal risks including insider threats and misconfigurations. The ramifications of these threats on critical infrastructure sectors, such as energy, transportation, and healthcare, are evaluated, with a focus on operational disruptions and economic impacts. Emergent defense strategies involving Software-Defined Networking and machine learning-based anomaly detection are assessed for their capability to bolster security posture. Furthermore, the role of national cybersecurity strategies and regulatory frameworks is analyzed, concentrating on multi-stakeholder coordination, legal measures, and adaptive governance to manage evolving risks. The findings highlight the imperative of integrating technical, organizational, and policy approaches to protect IoT-enabled critical systems and sustain national security resilience.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rafał Lizut https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
THE INDO-PACIFIC AS A STRATEGIC ARENA: EVOLVING SECURITY ALLIANCES AND DEEPENING POWER RIVALRIES
This paper examines the transformation of the Indo-Pacific into the central arena for global strategic competition. It argues that the intensifying rivalry between the United States and the People's Republic of China is the primary driver reshaping the regional security architecture. This rivalry has catalyzed the formation and strengthening of countervailing coalitions, notably the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) and the AUKUS pact, while simultaneously challenging the centrality of established ASEAN-led institutions. Through a qualitative analysis of strategic documents, academic literature, and policy reports from 2020-2025, this study dissects the interplay of military modernization, nuclear deterrence, and the weaponization of the economic-security nexus, particularly in critical technology supply chains. The findings indicate a shift towards a more fragmented and contested regional order, characterized by a complex web of overlapping bilateral and minilateral arrangements designed to balance against China's rise. While these alignments enhance deterrence, they also heighten the risks of miscalculation and escalation. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for strengthening cooperative security mechanisms, managing geoeconomic friction, and establishing robust crisis communication channels to ensure regional stability.
Copyright (c) 2025 Maryna Dei https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
THE ROLE OF PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES IN CONTEMPORARY CONFLICTS: LEGAL AND SECURITY DILEMMAS
This article undertakes an examination of the escalating role assumed by Private Military Companies (PMCs) within the matrix of contemporary conflicts, positing that their proliferation—most notably the ascendancy of state-proxy models exemplified by the Wagner Group—constitutes an exploitation of a critical vacuum within the corpus of international law. Effectuated through a comparative analysis of PMC operations across Iraq, Ukraine, Syria, and Africa, this paper demonstrates the mechanisms by which such entities precipitate an erosion of state sovereignty, present a formidable challenge to the tenets of international humanitarian law (IHL), and engender systemic lacunae in accountability. Our findings indicate that extant regulatory frameworks, inclusive of the Montreux Document and the International Code of Conduct (ICoCA), are possessed of an inherent insufficiency for addressing the geopolitical instrumentality characteristic of modern PMCs. The article culminates in the proposal of a binding UN Convention on Private Military and Security Activities, wherein a four-pillar governance model is outlined with the objective of re-establishing state responsibility, guaranteeing accountability, and regulating the ongoing privatization of warfare.
Copyright (c) 2025 Igor Britchenko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
THE VISEGRAD GROUP AND THE WAR IN UKRAINE: FROM VETO BLOC TO VOID
This article asks why Russia’s 2022 invasion fractured the Visegrád Group and answers by showing that the cohesion once visible during the 2015 migration crisis rested on a model of negative integration that could resist supranational pressure yet could not be translated into the demands of war. When faced with a proximate conflict that required convergent threat perception, collective risk-sharing and credible military capacity, the four states moved along divergent paths: Poland recast sovereignty as survival and bound itself more deeply to NATO and United States’ guarantees, Hungary treated sovereignty as autonomy and used veto power while maintaining energy ties with Moscow, Slovakia balanced cooperation and restraint within a polarised domestic arena, and Czechia consolidated an Atlanticist line alongside Poland. These trajectories produced a structural split that removed the V4 from the centre of Europe’s security debates and revealed a deeper mechanism: coalitions forged in opposition can endure in institutional disputes but falter once coercive shocks demand common strategy. What remains of the Visegrád format is protocol and symbol only, while effective agency has shifted to NATO, to coalitions of the willing within the EU, and to minilateral formats that reflect the real distribution of threat, capacity and political will across the continent.
Copyright (c) 2025 Yassine Guennoun https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
FROM CRISIS TO DOCTRINE: A DECADE OF MIGRATION SECURITIZATION AND STRATEGIC DEFIANCE IN HUNGARY
This article examines how Hungary, between 2015 and 2025, reworked migration policy into a doctrine of sovereignty-driven securitization. What started as short-term crisis responses became a governing toolkit that joined restrictive law, threat-heavy messaging, and calculated non-compliance with EU rules. Read through securitization theory and differentiated integration, this shift turns migration from a welfare or demographic matter into the main stage for asserting state sovereignty. The study employs a critical case study design, drawing on governmental speeches, EU court rulings, media campaigns, and regional declarations, alongside secondary scholarship. The findings demonstrate that Hungary not only entrenched legal resistance and fortified its borders with symbolic and technological infrastructures, but also mobilised regional alliances to contest supranational authority. In doing so, it recast European integration as conditional and strategically reversible. The article argues that Hungary exemplifies a broader post-liberal mode of governance in which the language and institutions of liberal order are retained yet redirected toward sovereignty-first objectives. The case offers a replicable template for how member states can recalibrate supranational authority from within, embedding fragmentation as a structural condition of the European project.
STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE MANAGEMENT AND LAW ENFORCEMENT IN NIGERIA: FIXING THE GAPS
Abstract This study focuses on important issues in how strategic intelligence is managed within Nigerian law enforcement agencies, with the goal of improving national security. It looks at the current situation of intelligence collection and analysis, looking at the structures, processes, and abilities in place. The study identifies key obstacles to effective sharing and cooperation among security agencies, exploring institutional, operational, and cultural challenges. It also evaluates the quality of training and technology available for intelligence work, looking at the effectiveness of training programs and the state of technological resources. The research also looks at how socio-political issues like political influence, corruption, and public attitudes affect the objectivity and success of intelligence agencies. Based on these findings, the study offers practical advice and strategies to close these gaps and improve the security system in Nigeria, ultimately making law enforcement more effective.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ngboawaji Nte, Ben Robert Eyororokumoh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0