ent in the country for quite some time. It has become evident that by leav­ing the country in the queue longer than it already is will only intensify the democratic deficit. This is even more important because North Macedonia has become one of the places where a tug-of-war between the West and Russia was going on. Contemporary National Security Culture in a Challenging International Environment The Macedonian contemporary national security culture is being redefined as an answer to the changing and challenging international environment. The NATO membership has been a tremendous success in fortifying the country’s security structure. However, there are still numerous contempo­rary challenges that need to be addressed – ranging from health crisis, hy­brid warfare, cybersecurity and the overall redefinition of the contemporary international system. One of the challenges at the beginning of 2020s, was the unprecedented health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic was huge international challenge that prompted the countries to prioritize national responses to the pandemic, resulting in border closures, diverging national lockdowns, and competition for medical supplies. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the Republic of North Macedonia to adapt, strengthen its re­sponse mechanisms, and rethink its health security, but also its response in the emergency situations. Moreover, over the past decade, the cyber security threats became one of the biggest challenges for the national security systems throughout the world. Cyber security threats, on their own or as part of a hybrid warfare, tend to destroy economic and national security in the 21st century. Numer­ous factors contribute to the rise of the cyber security threats, such as the growing dependence on information technologies, interconnections of crit­ical infrastructures and different weaknesses in different sectors- govern­ment, industry, financial system, etc. The Republic of North Macedonia was exposed to different and frequent cyber-attacks in the past five years, which pushed the country towards redefining its security culture and becoming more active in prevention and defence from the cyber security threats. Furthermore, the contemporary international system has been drastically modified. We are witnessing the emergence of a new multipolarity wherein 138 NATIONAL SECURITY CULTURES- A VIEW FROM THE BALKANS