The Working Group on Internal Security is a new NISPAcee Working Group, whose objectives are:

• to present theory-based country case studies on administration and management of prisons, police and other internal security agencies in the working group following a detailed research programme and summarising them into comparative studies;
• to provide common ground for comparative research, joint research programmes and international cooperation on training and exchange of experience between practitioners and researchers of prison, police and other areas of internal security.

The first problem addressed by the working group is the lack of information about arrangements, organisation, institutions and activities of the police, prisons and other agencies of internal security. The best database on prisons was collected by the International Centre for Prison Studies of the University of Essex in the United Kingdom (http://www.prisonstudies.org/), but few country studies have been carried out amongst countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Also, some quality research has been carried out by The European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI; http://www.heuni.fi/). The institute has published three high quality researches on the topic: Roy Walmsley (2003) Further Developments in the Prison Systems of Central and Eastern Europe - Achievements, problems and objectives. Helsinki: HEUNI 2003. HEUNI Publication No. 41, Roy Walmsley (1996) Prison Systems in Central and Eastern Europe - Progress, problems and the international standards. Helsinki: HEUNI 1996, and Roy Walmsley (1995) Developments in the Prison Systems of Central and Eastern Europe Helsinki: HEUNI 1995, HEUNI Paper No. 4. Despite these publications, there is relatively little research carried out in the field of administration of internal security.

For the first time, the NISPAcee Working Group on Administration and Management of Internal Security Agencies was summoned together at NISPAcee’s 20^thAnnual Conference on May 23-26 2012 at Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia. That year, the papers presented in the working group focused on the development of internal security agencies during the last two decades.

Scholars and practitioners who are active in the area of public administration, public law or internal security and who are interested in research and study of agencies and policies of internal security are invited to submit papers for the Working Group on Administration and Management of Internal Security Agencies on the following topics:

• Arrangement and organisation. In this session, papers about the overall structure and arrangement of internal safety and security, organisation, culture and management of agencies of internal security, financing of agencies of internal security, cooperation and relations between agencies should be submitted. Also, descriptive papers on development of internal security agencies are welcome;
• Personnel standing and management. In this session, papers about personnel management, leadership, salaries and social security, training and education and other issues related to personnel management of agencies are expected;
• Policies and strategic planning. In this session, papers about policies, implementation of policies and strategies of internal security are expected. This session also hosts papers on general problems, statistics and public self-organisation of internal security (such as crime rate, incarceration rate, statistics of imprisonment etc. or theoretical or philosophical approaches to solving problems of crime and public order). Also, descriptive papers on development of policies and strategies on internal security are welcome;
• Implementation and law. In this session, papers on legislation on internal security (laws, regulations, bylaws etc.) and court practice, on implementation studies, law and economics, and studies on institutional theory are expected. This session also hosts papers on corruption and other misuse of public power in agencies and bodies of internal security.

The paper selection will be based on submitted abstracts, which have to clearly define objectives and research questions (i.e. what the researcher wishes to find) and to carefully describe the research design and methods (i.e. what the researcher will actually do). The papers should demonstrate knowledge of related literature and legislation in both the local language and in English.