Department of Defence Law and Administration

Lieutenant Colonel Ferenc PETRUSKA PhD

assistant professor, Head of Department

Contact details:

Office: H-1101 Budapest, Hungária krt. 9-11., Zrínyi Campus, Building „A” Room 451.

Phone: (+36)-1-432-9000/29-202

Dear Visitor! Welcome to the website of the Department of Defence Law and Administration!

The explosive development of defence and security systems and their development in the last decade, the integration of knowledge of economic and social spheres, and the increase of security awareness and security protocols in these spheres have increased the importance of training in defence law and administration. The dynamics of change and the increasing nature of the multiple state and non-state threats to the stability of states, coupled with the exploitation of non-military opportunities and relationships in the economic and social spheres, require the strengthening of research on defence and security, which is changing dynamically and radically, and a thorough knowledge of regulation. The negative security developments of recent years, the changing activities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union's defence ambitions all point to the need for a renewal of regulations and structures. The expected renewal, in addition to the development of capabilities, requires the renewal of defence regulation and the strengthening of the related scientific support, to which the staff of the Department, in cooperation with other departments of the Faculty, can make a substantial contribution.

Therefore, the establishment of the Department was decided by the University's governing bodies in spring 2017, and the Senate of the National University of Public Service approved the decision of the Board of Governors on 13 April 2017, with its resolution No. 70/2017 (IV.13.), No. 39/2017 (IV.5). The declared aim of the establishment of the Department was to renew the teaching and research traditions of the predecessor institutions in the field of defence law and administration and to continue the teaching of the field within the framework of an autonomous organisational element. As a result of this decision, our Department has been the newest, dynamically developing department of the Faculty of Defence Law and Defence Studies of the National University of Public Service since 1 May 2017.

Looking at the interface between military and security sciences and the broader state sciences, our Department is an "intellectual centre" that brings together the expertise and experience of religious security, defence and public administration, the requirements and specificities of officer training and counter-religious radicalism, and defence-related military and public administration training. This is reflected in the objectives, functioning and staffing of the Department.

Five main areas have been identified in our research portfolio, namely:

1. military law (with a particular focus on preparation for foreign service),

2. defence law,

3. defence and security administration systems, with particular attention to the administration of defence,

4. special legal order and crisis management rules,

5. radicalism and religious extremism, providing a comprehensive knowledge of the emergence of religious extremism in the world and a clear understanding of world religions that serve peace among people. The Department considers it important to address the professional field of radicalism and religious extremism, as the role of religion and security is nowadays enhanced by migration compared to previous years and decades.

The development of the above research areas is supported by numerous national and international cooperation agreements initiated by our Department. In addition to teaching and research, this organisational element also seeks to actively cooperate in the field of science organisation. This presents added tasks and challenges for our staff in the area of building international and national scientific relations and organising scientific events.

The main objective of our activities is to develop the five research areas mentioned above and to create a research and academic function that can provide accepted and forward-looking results in the scientific community, as well as proposals that can be used in central administration and legislation. To this end, we have initiated the teaching of several newly developed subjects in the faculty's professional development (Defence Law MSc, Defence Law and Administration BSc-MSc, Military Law in English BSc, etc.).

The Department of Defence Law and Administration has developed and is running courses for soldiers, government officials, defence officers of the National Police Headquarters and professional staff of the Ministry of Interior.

In the second semester of the academic year 2018/19, our department launched the specialised training course on Radicalism and Religious Extremism. The training is also of interest to the State Secretariat for Assistance to Persecuted Christians and Hungary Helps Programme and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The primary objective of the training is to provide theoretical and practical training for the armed forces and civil servants. This will enable them to recognise religious extremism and to distinguish it from other religious communities, based on the theological and philosophical security policy knowledge they have acquired. The training aims to provide a knowledge base to help those working in the armed forces and public administration to assess and respond more effectively to new social phenomena. The training describes the role and power of religious communities in society, their radical groups and will provide up-to-date information on religious extremist groups operating in crisis zones. In line with the objectives of the Hungarian government, it will present the history of persecuted Christian communities, their situation in the process of migration, in sending and receiving countries. The training will raise practical problems of law enforcement, such as the need to reconcile the fundamental constitutional right to freedom of conscience and religion with the legal possibilities to combat religious extremism. The training also aims to promote communication between the professions in this area. The aim is to promote communication between government and religious communities and to strengthen the university's network of links with foreign partner institutions with a tradition of research in this field. Participants will learn about the state's defence mechanisms against religious extremism, ranging from legislation, law enforcement and national security services to the judiciary.

In 2019, our Department initiated the creation of the Religion and Security Research Workshop, which currently operates its research on religious security within the framework of the Institute for Research on Religion and Society (https://ejkk.uni-nke.hu/kutatointezetek/vallas-es-tarsadalom-kutatointezet). The aim of the workshop, then the institute, is to research the social and political role of religions. This research is to make the results of this research available to the broadest possible audience in the national and international academic community and to the public. The institute's research includes the analysis of the social teachings of Christian churches and the Christian roots of the West, as well as the global role of other world religions, Islam and some Asian religious traditions. The issue of persecution and discrimination based on religious belief is also an important area, as is the analysis of the relationship between religions and rival secular belief systems. This includes a historical exploration of the relationship between the Christian churches and the state, providing a picture of the changing nature of this relationship over time. Our workshop also conducts primary source research to explore the historical interrelationship between churches and society, in particular how the church press and other means of communication in Hungary and the rapid social modernisation of the 19th and 20th centuries interacted with each other in different historical periods.

In 2021, the Department also launched a Research Workshop on Defence Security Regulation and Governance. Its mission is to carry out national and international comparative analyses of legal regulatory, governance, administrative and decision-making issues related to the defence and security of the country, and to disseminate the resulting scientific results. In the course of our research, we intend to explore and analyse the governance implications of defence and security regulation. We also aim to provide theoretical basis for de lege ferenda proposals for modern regulation in connection with the development of the existing regulatory system. Through its publications and events, the Research Workshop also aims to provide a forum for professional communication between experts interested in the field and to catalyse the decision-preparatory work of public administrations through its scientific results. The workshop publishes its own workshop papers (Workshop Papers on Regulatory and Governance Studies for Defence Security) on its website: https://hhk.uni-nke.hu/kutatas-es-tudomanyos-elet/kutatomuhelyek/vedelmi-biztonsagi-szabalyozasi-es-kormanyzastani-kutatomuhely/muhelytanulmanyok

Since 2021, our Department has been involved in the delivery of mission training at the MH Peace Support Training Centre, with lectures on religious security, country studies, international and military law.

To nurture the talents of military officer candidates, our Department has a Defence Law and Administration TDK in the fields of defence law and administration, and religion and security.

The Department also has its own Cabinet (Zrínyi Miklós Barracks and University Campus, Building 4, Classroom 102).

I am confident that the activities of our Department will produce results that will be appreciated by the profession, the academic community, the university administration and the citizens of the University.

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