The open access book focusses on civil protection and resilience in contemporary Europe. In a time marked by overlapping crises and shifting global power dynamics, Europe faces unprecedented challenges that test its capacity to protect citizens, infrastructure, and democratic values. Geopolitical and Security Challenges in Risk Management explores how European societies can strengthen civil protection, reduce potential risks, and improve community resilience amid a rapidly changing security environment.

Explore how Europe adapts civil protection and risk management to hybrid threats, climate change, and poly-crises for greater resilience! Based on research from the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences and partner institutions, this book offers a comprehensive examination of emerging risks from hybrid warfare and digital vulnerabilities to climate-induced disasters and socio-political instability. It combines policy analysis with case studies from across Europe to show how societies can adapt civil protection and risk governance to new geopolitical realities.

Integrating academic insight with policy relevance, this volume provides practical recommendations for decision-makers, researchers, and practitioners in civil protection, internal security, crisis management, and resilience planning. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with how Europe can prepare for, and thrive through, the crises of the current and next decades.

Dr. Raul Savimaa is a researcher and consultant specializing in community resilience, environmental security, and crisis preparedness. He is a Research Fellow in the Internal Security Institute at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences and Editor-in-Chief of Security Spectrum: Journal of Advanced Security Research. With over thirty years of experience in security, civil protection, and environmental education, he combines systems thinking and modeling of heterogeneous time-critical multi-actor systems with applied research to strengthen sustainability and societal resilience. His work bridges academic and practical domains, contributing to numerous Horizon Europe, European Defense Agency, and national projects focused on risk governance, civil protection education, and the development of resilient communities across Europe.