NATO has defined 7 baseline requirements for national resilience to help countries to prepare for serious shocks as a result of attack, terrorism, or natural disaster. These focus on continuity of government, essential services, critical infrastructure, civil communications, and the movement of people and goods across borders. Together they form the core capacities deemed necessary for a state to function under stress.
This book, The Eighth Baseline Requirement: Resilient Civilians in Hybrid Threats and Warfare is the result of the NATO SPS Multi-Year Project on Resilient Civilians in Hybrid and Population-Centric Warfare and forms part of the NATO Science for Peace and Security Series: Human and Societal Dynamics. Hostile actors increasingly target the trust, cohesion, and psychological resilience of civilian populations. Disinformation campaigns and other non-military tactics deliberately exploit social fault lines, ultimately undermining the effectiveness of the other seven baseline requirements. The book argues that investing in the promotion of public trust, media literacy, and community cohesion and officially designating resilient civilians as the eighth baseline requirement for national resilience, would acknowledge that resilience is not just about impregnable infrastructure and secure supply chains, but also about the resolve, knowledge, and cohesion of the people.
The book is divided into 2 sections, Country Case Studies and Resilience Strategies, each containing 5 chapters. There is also an Introductory chapter, a Conclusion, and a Foreword contributed by Jamie Shea, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary General of NATO for Emerging Security Challenges.
The book discusses the need for more creative approaches to resilience in the light of increasing hybrid threats, and will be of great interest to all those working to ensure national security.
