Various possibilities for ensuring national security
In the past decade a number of sometimes opposing ideas on how
Slovenia ought to ensure its national security have appeared the
public sphere in Slovenia. As the date approaches when NATO will
decide on invitations to new members, this has given special impetus
to discussions on aspirations for and against membership of this
organisation.
The national security policy of a country must proceed from the
clearest possible awareness of threats and from an awareness of how
the country can ensure itself the highest possible level of
security. Understanding the threats to the security of a country in
today's world demands a very complex approach, because threats are
different to those in the past, and are thus more difficult to
recognise and more heterogeneous. We have become increasingly
convinced that no direct military danger threatens us today. At the
same time, a number of societal and technological processes are giving
rise to actual or potential threats to security. In Europe the
awareness of security during the past decade has to a rather large
degree been connected with uncertainty regarding the consequences of
changes brought about by the end of the cold war. Economic, political
and ethical problems in societies in transition, which could threaten
stability and peace, are a chief concern in efforts toward building a
safer and more united Europe, and of course these are not the only
security problems that European countries are facing.
In order to ensure their security today, countries make use of
various mechanisms; and, despite a reduction in the probability of a
military threat, the armed forces play an important role among these
mechanisms. In regard to the character of security threats, an
awareness of the need for security cooperation between countries and
to search for new international mechanisms to preserve stability and
peace is coming increasingly to the fore.
An important question for Slovenia is how, within the framework of
these processes and the mechanisms available, to most effectively
ensure national security. On the one hand, Slovenia has the
possibility for independent decisions about its national security
policy and, on the other hand, these possibilities are defined through
concrete processes and possibilities in the international
environment. The formation of a consensus on national security policy
therefore also takes place through discussions regarding the different
possibilities that the state has in this area. The ideas that appeared
in the past with regard to the method of ensuring Slovenia's national
security can be organised into a number of groups:
Understanding the complexity of the processes and circumstances in
which the process of shaping Slovenia's national security policy is
taking place, requires a more detailed presentation.
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