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internal security

Author: associate professor Dr. Nikolay Krushkov

Institution: Center for Development and Policy

Date: June 9, 2022

    INTERNAL SECURITY: ASSESSMENT, PRIORITIES, AND DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES   A brief assessment of the current state. Top homeland security issues  
  • The unity of the nation: violated.
  • Values in society: only individual values have been taught for decades.
  • Strategic priorities of national development: absent.
  • Education of the nation: neglected for decades, which in turn leads to 1) chaos in national education due to the absence of strategic development priorities and 2) unsustainable public funding of strategic areas in science.
  • A slow and very often incompetent state and municipal administration that does not know market realities and works primarily for its own benefit.
  • National business: bombarded by the media, operating in conditions of public distrust, hampered by frequently changing procedures and administrative collisions.
  • Transport connections with neighboring countries, ensuring the development of the economy and internal security: only single-lane land routes (no modern railways, no river and sea ports, not enough flights).
  • A demographic catastrophe.
  Main development priorities ensuring internal security to the highest degree  
  • Sustainability of the established national legal framework and application of the rule of law to ensure the unity of the nation and predictability of the internal environment – these are the conditions for the existence of initiative and private entrepreneurship, i.e., for development.
  • Administrative unification around defining the common values in society (national culture) and their systematic upbringing – from family and kindergarten, through primary and secondary school to universities;
  • Ensuring high level of education of the society, tied to high requirements for teachers, but also education that is specialized in the field of established priorities of development in the national economy and industry, i.e., practically and commercially necessary education.
  • Confirmation of high and irrevocable state requirements for the occupation of expert public positions, which eliminates the possibility of their party obsession.
  Measures to enable the achievement of the above stated priorities   Short-term measures  
  • Considering that the STATE AUTHORITY cannot formulate development priorities or the measures for their successful implementation by itself, since it does not know and has no way of knowing the market realities, INTERNAL SECURITY is achieved on the basis of systematic management meetings in the format „leaders of the state – leaders of the Bulgarian business“. At these meetings, there should be constant communication with the leaders of the national business, and in the conditions of mutual respect, national priorities, legal framework, deadlines, identified problems and their immediate solution are discussed and agreed upon.
  Medium-term measures  
  • Development of internal security, means first of all STATE AUTHORITY to create and support the unity of the nation (common values, common culture, mutual understanding and respect between all social groups, mutual assistance).
  • Second, development of internal security means that the STATE AUTHORITY must ensure the same (unified) culture of concern in the field of security for every person in Bulgaria (for their personal as well as for the common security), that everyone is sincerely concerned about themselves; for their loved ones; for their home; for the entrance to the building in which they live; for the neighborhood; for their own city and thus for the state, i.e., for the NATIONAL SECURITY.
  • Third, development of internal security means that the STATE AUTHORITY must ensure the rule of law, which means equality before the law – clear, irrevocable, respected rules observed by everybody, inevitable punishment for anyone who violates them and thus endangers the unity of the nation and the state.
  • Fourth, development of internal security means STATE AUTHORITY to create: 1) stability and predictability of all state systems; 2) accessibility of the state administration for society and business; 3) competence in the work of the state administration; 4) serving all the needs of business and every member of society with dedication.
  • Fifth, the STATE AUTHORITY to ensure the functioning within the law of the „vertical of public authority“, which includes coordination and the same degree of professional responsibility of all structures of the central and local authorities.
  • Sixth, development of internal security means STATE AUTHORITY to create or recognize, support and encourage national leaders and their associates in the various fields of public development – in the economy, finance, energy, industry, health, education and culture; national leaders are „locomotives“ of the state’s development (that is, of national business and society).
  • Seventh, development of internal security means STATE AUTHORITY to ensure national competitiveness with careful selection of priorities for economic and technological development and their LONG-TERM support – educational, financial, administrative.
  • Eighth, development of internal security means that the STATE AUTHORITY should educate the Bulgarian society to respect the neighboring countries, their cultures, state and social systems, and their peoples.
  • Finally, development of internal security requires the STATE AUTHORITY to carefully select or create as well as participate at state level in various alliances – global, regional, bilateral or multilateral (political, military and economic).
  Long-term measures   Defining common values and educating society in them as follows:   Individual values  
  • Individual values cannot be exercised in conflict with family or national values.
  • Everything in life is achieved with hard work; hard work is creation; it is respect for work, as well as striving to be surrounded by people of high-quality work; this supports the success of every individual and the society as a whole.
  • Respecting the talented: both older and younger.
  • Addressing in second-person plural form to older people and to strangers.
  • Suppressing one’s own ego in communication, listening patiently, accepting the different opinion.
  • Striving in every business activity to find the common interest and to ignore the differences.
  • Adhering to the Silver Rule of ethics (do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you), but above all to the Golden Rule (treat the others the way you want them to treat you).
  • Doing good without expecting anything in return.
  Family values  
  • Respect for family begins with elders, continues through respect between spouses and respect for children and relatives.
  • Taking care of the family is an irrevocable task of each of its members.
  • Comparable to caring for family is caring for friends and neighbors.
  • Starting a family between the ages of 20 and 30, aiming for 3 children within the same decade.
  National values  
  • The well-being of family, friends, neighbors, neighborhood, city, and country is as important as one’s own, and is a true guarantee of internal security.
In conclusion, the state political power should go outside its own world, be in daily contact with the national business and citizens, and integrate their assessment of the state of internal security in the strategic and operational management of the country.