Challenges of Democracy and Asymmetrical Threats – Military Organizations By Means of Learning and Adaptation toward the New Capabilities and Knowledge

Contemporary civil-military relations are marked by new social phenomena, by democratic movement evolution as well as by new emerging forms of threats and aggression. The traditional vision and mission of armed forces has to be changed. Transformation requires a complex process of learning and organizational changes that should create new capabilities and competencies. Army should develop its capabilities within new core areas such as Crises Management, Law Enforcement, Detection and Response. Besides that, military activities must be transparent and determined by issued strategic documents on national and higher levels. Military high-tech proliferation, networking, strong growth of information usage and communication technologies supported by traditional human ambitions in conquering power and resources result nowadays in the emergence of new, asymmetrical threats. Terrorism is one of such threats. While in the past, informal groups uncontrolled by authorities were less dangerous because of their threat assets’ low-level damages, nowadays the situation has changed. New asymmetrical threats are potentially globally dangerous and they pose very new challenges to regular military forces, which should prepare themselves in a new manner and learn new organisational responses. One kind of effective military reaction is forming alliances, namely by better connecting and networking of military forces. Democratic and civil society achievements, as well as new threats, make the modern army’s mission more complex. Capabilities and competencies of non-intrusive behaviour are required; the commitment towards non-invasive methods is desirable as well as the preservation of human lives. Paradigms of military non-intrusive and indirect behaviour likewise create an imperative for adapting the military organization that needs to improve itself by both internal task owners’ activities and by external, civil environment factors.