Determinants of strategic communication significant for national defense and security

Abstract

Strategic communication is one of the expressions of state power and represents an instrument in the political and security achievement of national interests. In the context of contemporary conflicts, it is an expression of a hybrid action in the fields of information, media, internet, and the entire spectrum of public diplomatic performances. It can have an offensive or defensive character. The main goal is to influence the public opinion and further move the focus in relation to the public towards cultural values and eventual adjustment of the political system through the ?reprogramming? of the political culture in accordance with the given objectives. Strategic communication is a planned and comprehensive activity of the organizational entity, which aims at achieving a successful and efficient interaction with the environment. Some of the elementary forms of strategic communication that support the highest national goals, even in the case of defense and security issues, are propaganda, public diplomacy, and interest communications (advocacy, lobbying, etc.). In this paper, using the analysis of the content and synthesis, a projection of strategic communication in the scope of propaganda, public diplomacy, and lobbying as determinants of strategic communication is presented. A framework for strategic propaganda planning, a strategic approach to public diplomacy, and a lobbying strategy have been developed, with a basic proposal for the modelling of every listed component of strategic communication. The paper contributes to the thesis that strategic communication aims at supporting the organization?s mission. In the field of defense and security, strategic communication has one of the vital roles in supporting the achievement of the mission of strengthening the overall identity, the international position of internal cohesion and the unity of the nation, as well as the general readiness to respond to the contemporary security challenges. Strategic communication represents a wide area of communication disciplines that combine different co-information areas, disciplines, and skills in a hybrid and inventive way. Strategically guided propaganda, public diplomacy, and lobbying are certainly areas of importance for the comprehensive construction of the ?soft? power, but also in support of the construction of the ?hard? power. The conclusion is that the planning and implementation of the strategic communication, through strategic determinants, such are propaganda, public diplomacy, and lobbying, must be meticulously studied and planned, according to scientific and practice-tested postulates. In this way, it is possible that strategic communication really strongly and significantly supports the achievement of the organization?s mission, which in the case of the state relates to its international position, resistance to contemporary, hybrid challenges of risk and threats, and readiness for the defensive, and, if necessary, offensive activity. This approach seeks to raise general defense capacities, thus turning the state into an unwanted opponent, and achieving the effect of preventing and deterring possible aggressive action.