Strategic Communication as Crisis Response, Based on the European Union’s Practice

Abstract

The mid-2010s have seen major armed conflicts emerging or expanding in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods of the European Union (EU). The communicative dimension
of these conflicts has prompted direct security risks in the EU, in particular through Russian disinformation activities and through terrorist propaganda conducted by the Islamic State terrorist organisation. The EU’s strategic communication capacity has been created in this period. The present article describes the relationship, including causal links, between the above crisis situations, the ensuing communicative risks and EU strategic communication, and it argues that the EU’s strategic communication is primarily a crisis management instrument.