CEVRO Institute

Trust represents a fundamental pillar of contemporary security policy, influencing decision-making processes, institutional stability, and the effectiveness of security measures at both national and international levels. This article explores trust as a key precondition for the formulation and implementation of security policy, emphasizing its role in relations between states, within security institutions, and between public authorities and society. The analysis focuses on trust as a multidimensional concept encompassing political legitimacy, transparency, accountability, and the credibility of security actors. Particular attention is paid to the consequences of declining trust, including increased social polarization, weakened resilience of democratic systems, and reduced effectiveness of collective security arrangements. The article argues that building and maintaining trust is not merely a normative objective, but a strategic necessity for ensuring long-term security and stability in an increasingly complex and uncertain security environment.Through comparative analysis of selected European states (Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, France, and Estonia), the paper identifies critical determinants of trust, including transparency, institutional neutrality, crisis communication, and historical path-dependence. The findings demonstrate that trust acts as both an input to and an output of security policy, reinforcing legitimacy through reciprocity between citizens and the state.The article concludes that sustained trust-building must be recognized as a strategic dimension of security governance. Trust-based security strengthens societal resilience, mitigates polarization, and enhances adaptive capacity in hybrid threat environments.

Ensuring security is one of the key aspects of most states' policies. The current global security situation forces states to address this issue with greater urgency. Each state develops its security components based on its economy, personnel, and other possibilities, as well as by the approach it chooses to ensure security. Citizen involvement is essential; the only question is to what extent individual states will carry out this involvement. This possible involvement is influenced by several factors, including citizens' trust in the state, the state's economic and technical capabilities, and the general public's perception of the state's functioning among its citizens. This contribution aims to identify key aspects of the functioning of the so-called 'co-created security', which refers to the organized and deliberate involvement of citizens under the supervision of professional security forces. In this sense, co-created security presents a distinct contrast to the spontaneous establishment of paramilitary organizations, militias, and other entities that attempt to ensure security outside the official system, often without legal authority.

The energy security of the Czech Republic (CR) and the European Union (EU) has become a key strategic issue over the past decade, as highlighted by the recent energy crisis caused by dependence on energy imports from geopolitically unstable regions. The field of energy security is a complex and strategic issue influenced by numerous factors. Technological advances, digitalisation, electromobility, the development of AI, geopolitical upheavals and the drive for decarbonisation are all increasing the demand for a stable and secure electricity supply. The Czech Republic, with its limited renewable energy potential (RE) and historical dependence on coal, faces a fundamental decision on how to ensure stable, environmentally responsible, and sustainable electricity generation. The deployment of small modular reactors (SMR), which can supply electricity to the central grid while also supporting the decentralisation of power for critical infrastructure, appears to be an important and innovative solution. The publication was produced within the framework of the IGP CEVRO 2024 student internal grant programme and focuses on the potential of renewable energy sources within four critical infrastructure sectors: energy, rail transport, healthcare, and emergency services in the form of Integrated Rescue System (IRS) units. Through qualitative analysis, expert assessment, and a sector-focused approach, the specific energy requirements, vulnerabilities in the event of grid failure, and the potential for increasing energy resilience are analysed in each of these sectors. The publication also compares the strategic analysis of SMRs with alternative technologies (photovoltaics, battery storage, hydrogen, and battery trains) in terms of efficiency, cost, and reliability.

The article analyzes key aspects of the development of the Czech Republic's defense policy since 1989, with a focus on the role of strategic culture. It examines historical, political, and social factors that have shaped the Czech Republic's approach to defense and security issues. Special attention is given to the transformation of the Czech Armed Forces, the transition to a professional military model, and responses to changing geopolitical threats. The analysis also considers public perceptions of the military, the influence of historical narratives on strategic culture, and the attitudes of political elites toward defense matters. The article highlights the importance of strategic culture as an analytical framework for understanding long-term trends and the evolution of defense policy, while suggesting potential avenues for future research in the Czech context.

Radiation technologies using ionising radiation and radionuclides are now widely used in all areas of human activity. These include applications in medicine, industry, nuclear energy, and science. Exposure to ionising radiation therefore affects radiation workers employed at these sites, a large group of people who are in the vicinity of the sites in the course of their work, and people who live and work in the vicinity of the sites. However, the positive properties of ionising radiation and radionuclides that we use in practical applications can be accompanied by negative effects of ionising radiation from which we must protect ourselves with well-developed and effective radiation protection. However, the negative effects of ionising radiation, which can occur with uncontrolled exposure, are quite different from other pollutants that affect humans, such as noise, dust, light or heat fields, toxic substances, etc. varies considerably. For example, by the fact that humans have no sense to alert them that they are in a radiation field. This is a fact that greatly affects all radiation activities and all contact with ionizing radiation. This paper deals with the differences and specifics of irradiation. He gradually discusses them, looking for their mutual connections and links. It discusses their significance and seriousness. It also discusses their impact on radiation safety and the provision of effective and reliable radiation protection for radiation workers and the public. In view of the widespread use of radiation technologies, good knowledge and awareness of ionising radiation can contribute to working responsibly in radiation workplaces and to minimising the emergence of various rumours and untruths among the public.

This article explores the complexities of adopting the euro as a common currency within the European Union, with a particular focus on the Czech Republic. Using the Optimum Currency Area (OCA) theory as the primary analytical framework, the study assesses whether the economic costs of adopting the euro outweigh the benefits. The analysis considers the potential loss of sovereign monetary policy, the likelihood and impact of asymmetric shocks, and the effectiveness of alternative adjustment mechanisms such as capital and financial integration. The findings suggest that while the adoption of the euro could lead to the elimination of transaction costs and potential economic gains, the risks associated with reduced monetary policy autonomy and exposure to asymmetric shocks remain significant. The study concludes that a nuanced approach, taking into account both economic criteria and broader political and social implications, is essential to determine the suitability of euro adoption for the Czech Republic.

Abstract This publication presents the results of several years of research on cross-border cooperation in the trilateral Euroregions of Neisse/Nisa/Nysa and Šumava/Bayerischer Wald/Unterer Inn-Mühlviertel. The aim of our research was to identify the main obstacles to cross-border cooperation. We also sought to understand how, in the specific multilateral context of the two selected trilateral Euroregions, specific actors of cross-border cooperation are involved in the treating of active borders. We see an active border as an important form of horizontal Europeanization of the public sphere, and as one of the features and prospective sources of European integration.

The paper deals with some issues of the law of armed conflict in relation to the armed invasion of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part of this paper deals with the issues of illegal use of force by the Russian Federation, the role of the Security Council and the Ukrainian exercise of the right to self-defense. The second part deals with the use of prohibited means and methods of fighting in relation to attacks on the civilian population. The paper seeks to determine what specific (customary or contractual) rules of international law have been violated by the Russian Federation.

This article maps the development of Czech corporate law after 1989 against the backdrop of the gradual change of private law and its paradigms as well as considering especially the influence and use of corporate governance soft law. It describes some of the economic, political and social reasons that slowed down or marginalized the relevance of OECD Corporate Governance Principles after the transition of Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic to democratic law. At the same time, the article attempts to show that while the gradual recodification of corporate law, in particular corporate governance rules, did not provide much support for the use of corporate governance codes, it nevertheless reflected the relevant rules and recommendations for statutory rules, thus, partially attaining similar goals. The authors of this article therefore believe that the lack of the practical development of some aspects of corporate governance or corporate social responsibility is often not due to the inadequacy of legal regulation but is rather the result of an overestimation of the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs, their reluctance to introduce complex governance structures and a rigid or very conservative interpretive positivism.

ABSTRACT This article presents an alternative approach to the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. As the one-state solution is generally unacceptable to both Israel and the Palestinians and the two-state solution does not seem to be working, the authors suggest a possible ‘second-best solution’. Under this proposal a prospective Palestinian state would extend from the Gaza Strip to adjacent parts of the Sinai Peninsula for which Egypt would receive either financial or territorial compensation by the extension of its territory westwards to areas currently administered by Libya.