Strategy Synergy Security

Report prepared for the Conference entitled Conflictology and Security
University for National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria
October 17-18, 2007, by Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Slatinski, Ph.D.
(Final version: October 17, 2007)

  The contemporary trends in international relations, their active dynamics, unpredictability and non-linearity, the change in the security paradigm, prove to be a serious challenge to conflictology and conflictologists. But more than some challenge, isn’t all going on also a peculiar punishment for this science and these scientists that they indulged in self-complacency, in seeking explanation and modeling of the processes with the traditional means and methods of analysis, although re-offered in an attractive packing for the fashionable wording for categories and concepts: synergy and self-organization, dissipative structures and chaos? The very modern categories and concepts have no bearing on that, of course.

Associate Professor Nikolay Slatinski, Ph.D.**

  The web of terrorist networks is spreading out very easily and quickly supported by the dynamics, mobility, hi-tech technologies, communications and the media in the global village. More and more sophisticated and destructive weapons and other means for violence, aggression, infliction of human and material damages, including mass destruction weapons and strains of extremely contagious diseases, could fall in the hands of the terrorists. This requires even greater and common efforts for preventing terrorist acts and our goals are not simply a terrorism free world, but a much more democratic, terrorism free world.
  The fight against terrorism not only unites the democratic countries in the conclusion that terrorism is a challenge which could turn out to be the plague of 21 century, but the fight against terrorism causes problems, which could disunite and divide the democratic world. The possible differences in the notions, should not be dramatized and exaggerated, but they also should not be ignored easily.

Ass. Prof. Nikolay Slatinski, PhD

  "Paraphrasing Karl Marx’s famous words, we could say that a spectre is hunting the modern consciousness: the spectre of insecurity."
Robert Nisbet [1]
  “Security is like oxygen: you tend not to notice it until you begin to lose it, but once that occurs there is nothing else that you will think about.”
Joseph S. Nye Jr. [2]

  This paper is aimed to try to extend the analysis of the Levels of Security Scheme, proposed in earlier publications such as the article Security And International Relations and the book Security Dimensions [3, 4]. This Scheme includes only the most substantial connections and interrelations and should be considered as a good auxiliary tool in understanding the extent of national security and international security. Therefore, we will examine five levels of security.