Evolution of civil security systems: the case of three Central European countries

National civil security systems (CSSs) are powerful risk management tools. They do, however, sometimes fail to adjust, as e.g. the Fukushima disaster demonstrates. Understanding the (mal)adaptation of CSSs is thus crucial. Yet, comprehensive analyses of the evolution of CSSs are not common. It is the aim of this paper to fill this gap and, more importantly, to identify the main causes of changes. This paper investigates how the CSSs of the Central European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) have changed since their democratic transition in 1989. We aim to understand the role of the main drivers of change leading to the adaptation of the CSSs. Specifically, the impact of the so-called focusing events is investigated that are identified based on the OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database. We base our work on a review of legal acts, documents and interviews with experts and practitioners. We find common patterns in all three countries with a specific crisis being constitutive for the CSS change on the one hand and with the 'paradigmatic policy change' of 1989/1990 not playing a decisive role.