Defence and strategy

Dear readers,

let me introduce the new issue of the Obrana a strategie journal. The present issue offers a number of interesting articles. You can look forward to a case study from Israel's Supreme Court by Hubert Smékal and Jakub Fučík, who show that the process known as judicialisation is manifested also in the field of decision-making on the conduct of armed conflicts. The contribution by Michal Smetana on nuclear infrastructure in the world free of nuclear weapons deals with the double-edged role of the military nuclear infrastructure in relation to nuclear disarmament. The topical problem of the Syrian Kurds is addressed in the article by Michael Murad. He introduces their history and relationship to various regimes, which ruled in the territory of Syria after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, and follows up with an analysis of their situation after the so-called Arab Spring. The reader can also enjoy the article by Libor Kutěj, which covers Poland's new Security Strategy adopted at the end of the last year. The last of the five articles is by the foreign author Karolina Gawron-Tabor, who addresses the topic of defence cooperation within the Visegrad Group in 2010-2014.

Apart from articles, this issue brings a number of reviews of interesting professional publications. Josef Kraus introduces the book The Fight for Jerusalem by Dore Gold, former advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers Sharon and Netanyahu. Peter Števkov draws attention to the book by Michael Innes Making Sense of Proxy Wars: States, Surrogates & the Use of Force which deals with an interesting phenomenon of proxy wars. Richard Stojar introduces a two-part publication by Jan Eichler. The books are called From Sarajevo to Hiroshima and From Hiroshima to Belgrade, linked by a similar subtitle War and Peace in the First and the Second Half of the 20th Century. This publication offers a historical overview of international policy of last century. The fourth review written by Josef Melichar is dedicated to the book called Risk Management in Companies and Other Organizations. As the author himself explains, although the topic of the book generally belongs to the civilian area, it directly offers the idea of exploitation in the environment of the armed forces.

In conclusion, I would like to wish you all the best and thank you for your previous attention on behalf of myself, the editorial board and all co-workers who participate on the publishing of the Obrana a strategie journal.

Chairman of the Editorial Board

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