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

doi: 10.32563/hsz.2023.2.7

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.

Keywords:

strategic communication European Union Ukraine Russia Islamic State

References

Aggestam, Lisbeth – Hedling, Elsa (2020): Leaderisation in Foreign Policy: Performing the Role of EU High Representative. European Security, 29(3), 301–319. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2020.1798411

Andersson, Jan Joel (2015): Hybrid Operations: Lessons from the Past. European Union Institute for Security Studies. Online: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep06843

Berzina, Kristine et al. (2019): Annex A.: European Efforts to Counter Disinformation. In European Policy Blueprint for Countering Authoritarian Interference in Democracies. German Marshall Fund of the United States, 41–49. Online: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep21251.8

Bjola, Corneliu – Pamment, James (2016): Digital Containment: Revisiting Containment Strategy in the Digital Age. Global Affairs, 2(2), 131–142. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2016.1182244

Bladaitė, Neringa–Šešelgytė, Margarita (2020): Building a Multiple ‘Security Shelter’ in the Baltic States after EU and NATO Accession. Europe-Asia Studies, 72(6), 1010–1032. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2020.1785396

Council of the European Union (2009): EU Action Plan on Combating Terrorism. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15358-2009-INIT/en/pdf

Council of the European Union (2014): Draft Guidelines for the EU Strategy for Combating Radicalisation and Recruitment to Terrorism. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-13469-2014-INIT/en/pdf

Council of the European Union (2015a): Council Conclusions on Counter-Terrorism. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-6048-2015-INIT/en/pdf

Council of the European Union (2015b): Enlargement and Stabilisation and Association Process − Council conclusions. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15356-2015-INIT/en/pdf

Council of the European Union (2016): Enlargement and Stabilisation and Association Process − Draft Council conclusions. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15370-2016-INIT/en/pdf

Council of the European Union (2017a): Council Conclusions on EU External Action on Counter-terrorism (19 June 2017). Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10384-2017-INIT/en/pdf

Council of the European Union (2017b): Revised Guidelines for the EU Strategy for Combating Radicalisation and Recruitment to Terrorism. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10855-2017-INIT/en/pdf

Council of the European Union (2018): Enlargement and Stabilisation and Association Process – Council conclusions. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10555-2018-INIT/en/pdf

Council of the European Union (2019): Enlargement and Stabilisation and Association Process – Council conclusions. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10337-2019-REV-1/en/pdf

Darchiasvili, David – Bakradze, David (2019): The EU Eastern Partnership Initiative and Georgia: Context and Perceptions, Experiences, and Prospects. Politeja, 62(5),117–140. Online: https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.16.2019.62.07

Datzer, Veronika – Lonardo, Luigi (2023): Genesis and Evolution of EU Anti Disinformation Policy: Entrepreneurship and Political Opportunism in the Regulation of Digital Technology. Journal of European Integration, 45(5), 751–766. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2022.2150842

Debardeleben, Joan (2020): Crisis Response, Path Dependence, and the Joint Decision Trap: The EU’s Eastern and Russia Policies After the Ukraine Crisis. East European Politics, 36(4), 564–585. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2020.1832474

Dorosh, Lesia et al. (2022): The Impact of Post-truth Politics as a Hybrid Information Influence on the Status of International and National Security: The Attributes of Interpretation and the Search for Counteraction Mechanisms. European Politics and Society, 23(3), 340–363. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2021.1873041

European Commission (2018): Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions–Tackling online disinformation: a European Approach. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8578-2018-INIT/en/pdf

European Commission–High Representative (2016): Joint Communication to the European Parliament and the Council – Joint Framework on countering hybrid threats: a European Union response. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-7688-2016-INIT/en/pdf

European Commission–High Representative (2018): Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Action Plan Against Disinformation. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15431-2018-INIT/en/pdf

European Commission–High Representative (2019): Joint Staff Working Document–Report on the Implementation of the 2016 Joint Framework on Countering Hybrid Threats and the 2018 Joint Communication on Increasing Resilience and Bolstering Capabilities to Address Hybrid Threats. Online: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9834-2019-REV-1/en/pdf

European Council (2015): European Council Meeting (19 and 20 March 2015) – Conclusions. Online: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/21888/european-council-conclusions-19-20-march-2015-en.pdf

European External Action Service (2015): Action Plan on Strategic Communication. Online: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/sites/default/files/action_plan_on_strategic_communication.docx_eeas_web.pdf

Hedling, Elsa (2021): Transforming Practices of Diplomacy: The European External Action Service and Digital Disinformation. International Affairs, 97(3), 841–859. Online: https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiab035

Jacuch, Andrzej (2022): The Blurred Lines of Peace and War – An Analysis of Information Operations Used by the Russian Federation in CEE1. The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 35(2), 157–180. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/13518046.2022.2139071

Mälksoo, Maria (2018): Countering Hybrid Warfare as Ontological Security Management: The Emerging Practices of the EU and NATO. European Security, 27(5), 374–392. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2018.1497984

Müller, Patrick (2019): Normative Power Europe and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Eu’s Peacebuilding Narrative Meets Local Narratives. European Security, 28(3), 251–267. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/09662839.2019.1648259

Örden, Hedvig (2019): Deferring Substance: EU Policy and the Information Threat. Intelligence and National Security, 34(3), 421–437. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2019.1553706

Parkes, Roderick (2019): Introduction. In Fiott, Daniel – Parkes, Roderick (szerk.): Protecting Europe: The EU’s Response to Hybrid Threats. European Union Institute for Security Studies, 4–10. Online: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep21143.4

Ryzhkov, Vladimir (2019): Russia and the European Union: Crisis and Prospects. Survival, 61(3), 139–164. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2019.1614789

Torda Péter (2022): Az Európai Külügyi Szolgálat stratégiai kommunikációs munkacsoportjai. Biztonsagpolitika, 2022. február 15. Online: https://biztonsagpolitika.hu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/torda-peter-eksz-eu-stratkomm.pdf

Valenza, Domenico (2021): The Trap of Geopolitics: Rethinking EU Strategic Communication. College of Europe Policy Brief, March 2021. Online: https://www.coleurope.eu/sites/default/files/research-paper/valenza_cepob_3_2021_final.pdf_0.pdf

Valenza, Domenico (2022): Fanning the Flames? An Exploration of EU Discourse on Culture in the Eastern Partnership. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 31(1), 90–105. Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2022.2100749

Wagnsson, Charlotte – Hellman, Maria (2018): Normative Power Europe Caving In? EU under Pressure of Russian Information Warfare. Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(5), 1161–1177. Online: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12726

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.