Intercultural competence and law enforcement officer: straigtforward or contraversial?

ENThe concept of intercultural competence for every denizen of a global world, and especially, a professional, such as a pedagogue, a law enforcement officer is important, it has been discussed and has gained support for the last two decades at least. However, in the light of recent events and changing geopolitical context, the deliberations should be renewed. The aim of this paper is discussing aspects that are straightforward and aspects that may comprise controversy, regarding the intercultural competence of law enforcement officers (or any other person for that matter). The attention to revisit the concept and its contents was prompted due to the recent discussions motivated by joining the project, funded by the EC: Cooperation for developing joint curriculum on tackling hybrid threats (HYBRIDC). Participation in the project allowed collecting the part of the data for empiric study and deciding on potential benefits to proceed with the deliberations. The paper presents findings of a pilot study, which revealed the differences between interpretations among students in two countries. The limitation of the study should be taken into consideration, yet, the findings provide observations worth further examinations, especially in the light of recent geopolitical context. Keywords: intercultural competence, hybrid threats, controversy. [From the publication]

• Border crossings, moving borders : young peoples' constructions of identities in Lithuania in the early 21st century / Alistair Ross, Vaiva Zuzevičiūtė. Profesinis rengimas: tyrimai ir realijos. 2011, Nr. 20, p. 38-47.
• Mobility in a globalised world: implications for cultural identities and intercultural education / Vaiva Zuzevičiūtė. Česlovo Milošo skaitymai. 2010, 3, P. 243-252.
• Mokytojų požiūris į tarpkultūrinės kompetencijos raišką / Aida Norvilienė, Vaiva Zuzevičiūtė. Tiltai. 2011, Nr. 3 (56), p. 111-124.