Security Policy as a Process

Abstract

This article is based on the assumption that behind the more specific phenomena and forces relating to the security policy process there is a pattern, which the author has tried to outline. The vantage point is unilateral, i.e. it concerns a single collective actor. After defining and relating the central concepts, using the decision making approach, an analysis is made of the long-term security policy process. The actors tend to be activated by an unsatisfactory achievement of results; they try to adapt doctrine, strategy, and tactics to changing conditions according to a fairly defined sequence and set of rules. The adjustment of goals affects support, making it difficult for the central decision-makers to control the process, which is thus inevitably characterized by a shifting equilibrium, dynamism, and change.