Democratic backsliding, characterized by the incremental erosion of democratic principles and a resurgence of authoritarian tendencies,  profoundly influences the very fabric of security governance. While its impact on public administration has been explored by scholars of public policy and public administration,  the interaction between the backsliding process and security governance has not been widely discussed in the contemporary context.

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The Summer 2013 issue of Connections presents original studies on defence economics and NATO's drive towards 'Smart Defense', NATO's critical energy infrastructures ambitions in view of recent developments in gas and oil pipeline projects, the growing role of social media in conflicts, and security developments in the Caucasus. Two papers look at Asia, in particular to the U.S. 'pivot' and the role of China's Xinjiang for security and development in Central Asia.

The Spring 2013 issue addresses potential roles of Central Asian states post-2104; the topics of strategic communication; asymmetric warfare as seen by deployed military personnel; the roles of armed forces in civil security, with details on the experience of Italy; NATO's energy security policy and developments in the Caspian; the evolution of balistic missile defense in Poland. It presents a GAO report on US and NATO efforts to assist Afghan security forces.

The Winter 2012 issue of Connections is dedicated to the technical and organizational challenges of mobile learning, the opportunities it provides in the education and training of defense personnel, and the challenges of mobile learning in security and defense organizations, research ethics, crisis simulations and mobile serious games. Another article provides analysis of the experience in teaching history in an ethnically divided, post-conflict country.

The lead article in the Spring 2014 issue of Connections looks into the interplay of incentives and requirements for NATO membership from the point of view of an aspirant country, Georgia. Other papers question the effectiveness of the UN Security Council vis-a-vis the Syrian crisis, the US pivot to Asia in view of the enduring terrorist threat, and the application of the concept of sovereignty in the South Caucasus. The issue provides also an insight into the evolution of Bulgaria's post-Cold war defense policy, the security of the Sinai Peninsula and key references on Afghanistan.

Two of the papers in the Fall 2013 issue of Connections look into the legitimacy in the use of force in cyber space in three recent cyber attacks and the engagement between NATO/U.S. and Russia in the cyber domain. Another article treats the dilemma of transparency vs. confidentiality in the oversight of security agencies and the experience with parliamentary committees of inquiry in Germany. The fourth article examines the paradigm shift in the discourse on energy security, and the final one - the causes for vulnerability of Western youth to Al Qaeda's ideological recruitment.