Polish Civil Security in Regional Context

The chapter provides an overview of the civil security in Poland. At the beginning, the notion of civil security is explained and delimitated using the most common current definitions related to civil security, such as civil protection or disaster management. Theoretical conceptualizations from the Polish literature on the subject are included as well. In the second part of the chapter, main outlines of the civil security in Poland are presented based on peoples’ perception of non-military threats. This is done based on the data from Eurobarometer surveys from 2011 and 2012, both of which had a civil security component. Here, also the regional context is brought into debate, as the outcomes for Poland are compared with the ones for the Visegrad Group and with those for the whole EU. In the third and the last section, the organization of civil security in Poland is outlined, together with the appreciation of the role of the non-governmental (i.e. civic and for-profit/private) sector. The section then proceeds with the understanding of civil security as provided by the extant Polish legislation. Such understanding and practice is then compared with the theoretical approaches which were provided at the beginning. Peoples’ perceptions, too, are brought again into the forefront as they are linked here to the actual civil security practice in Poland.