Defence and strategy

Richard STOJAR

The text deals with the development and methods of use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in contemporary conflicts or special operations. The contribution tries to present the main advantages of these vehicles as being the main reasons for their current use by the armed forces of states as well as non-state actors and their dynamic proliferation in the global space in the past years. Specific attention is dedicated to controversies tied to the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and discussion in the context of cultural or societal dimension of their use and perspectives for further development.

An approach to foreign security cooperation within the EU and NATO

Kristýna MAŤÁTKOVÁ

The article deals with the security and defence policy of two neutral countries, Finland and Austria, and provides a comparative analysis of their approaches toward the security and defence cooperation within the EU and NATO. The main aim is to map the changes of neutrality of these countries after the end of the Cold War related to their participation in CSDP and their cooperation with NATO. The article shows that for both Austria and Finland full participation on CFSP as well as cooperation with NATO are crucial, and with regard thereto they gradually weakened and grinded up their original concept of neutrality.

From the Perspective of African Actors

Linda PIKNEROVÁ

This article aims to analyze the phenomenon of African piracy from the beginning of 90’s until nowadays. The beginning of the article is dedicated to a detailed overview of piracy and the number of piracy attacks in previous decades. The following part is focused on the relationship between security challenges in an African context and the phenomenon of piracy which represents one of the many security problems that Africa now faces. The last part aims to present some strategies of selected regional African key players which have taken up a fight against piracy, trying to eliminate it through their own actions. The African Union has been selected as the most influential Pan-African organization in leading African counter-piracy politics; Southern, Eastern and Western African regional organizations have also been selected as key players in building their own counter-piracy strategies in their regions.

Strategy of Al Qaeda in the Middle East and North Africa

Lukáš TICHÝ

The article discusses the relationship of the Islamist terrorist organization al-Qaeda to issue of the attacks focused on energy sector and their specific manifestations in the Middle East and North Africa. The first aim is to analyze the importance that al-Qaeda attaches to the attacks targeted at the energy sector. The second aim is to describe the main forms, examples, goals and motives of the attacks aimed at the energy sector realized by al-Qaeda in selected countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, Syria and Yemen. The third aim is to analyze impact of al-Qaeda attacks against the energy industry and infrastructure on the energy security.