{"id":49569,"date":"2019-08-05T12:39:35","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T02:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=49569"},"modified":"2019-08-05T12:39:35","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T02:39:35","slug":"social-mobilisation-in-a-contested-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/social-mobilisation-in-a-contested-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"Social mobilisation in a contested environment"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

As geostrategic circumstances darken, there\u2019s new interest in military mobilisation. For Australia, that involves moving the Australian Defence Force beyond its normal peacetime rate of effort. It can be an all-of-nation mobilisation for the \u2018big\u2019 war or more selective, like for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars when the ADF expanded, production in some industry sectors ramped up, recruiting increased and the training tempo rose.<\/p>\n

Vice Admiral David Johnston, vice chief of the ADF, recently announced<\/a> that a national mobilisation review is underway, the first since the Cold War. Discussions about mobilisation tend to conjure up images of mass production of tanks, warships and combat aircraft. However, industrial expansion is only part of the story. Technical mobilisation activities are important but not sufficient.<\/p>\n

Mobilisation has traditionally been more than simply an engineering or logistical planning exercise; it also includes social issues and concerns. Mobilisation is a process<\/a> that not only generates military hardware but also \u2018marshals the national resources to defend the nation and its interests\u2019. Australia\u2019s greatest national resource is undoubtedly its people. As ADF chief General Angus Campbell observed<\/a> last year, \u2018A democratic nation\u2019s army is as good as the support of its citizens\u2019.<\/p>\n

In a major change, the government\u2019s\u00a0marshalling of the Australian people is now likely to be contested, perhaps seriously. Future governments could face purposeful interference when they attempt to convince the Australian people of the need to undertake defence operations and activities. Foreign powers might try to deliberately prevent mobilisation by meddling in Australian society.<\/p>\n

The shift to a contested social environment reflects a revitalised appreciation of the importance of a nation\u2019s society to the nation\u2019s ability to defend itself. \u2018The people\u2019 are becoming reconceptualised as a centre of gravity that may be exploited by others to win future conflicts, potentially without any fighting at all. An adversary may seek to mobilise Australians for its own purposes.<\/p>\n

The ability to effectively contest a government\u2019s mobilisation agenda has been made practicable because of the deep penetration of information technologies across all societies. Australians are closely linked to others around the globe exchanging words, data, images and videos in near real-time. Authoritarian governments have been the first to fully comprehend the threats and opportunities that globalised information technologies bring.<\/p>\n

The 2015 Chinese defence white paper<\/a> worried about \u2018anti-China forces \u2026 instigating a \u201ccolour revolution\u201d [that damages] China\u2019s political security and social stability\u2019. In the mid-2000s, colour revolutions overthrew authoritarian regimes in Georgia (Rose), Ukraine (Orange) and Kyrgyzstan (Tulip); today\u2019s Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have adopted yellow<\/a>. Importantly, these movements were mobilised and coordinated using information technologies and diverse social media platforms.<\/p>\n

While China frets, Russia military thinkers have taken the lead in examining the strategic use of information technologies against societies. Russian thinkers contend that countries can now be readily destabilised, almost on command. Governments can be overthrown<\/a> by external powers indirectly supporting internal protesters through the so-called information space. Such space is envisaged as encompassing both information technology and human cognitive processes; it is a newly accessible zone where battles can be fought over people\u2019s opinions. In March, Russian General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov declared that<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The information realm[,] which lacks clearly defined national borders, allows for remote, stealthy operations aimed at not only critical informational infrastructure, but also the population, with direct impact on national security.<\/p>\n

Therefore the matter of preparing for and conducting informational operations is a key task for military science.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Smaller groups can also influence societies. Islamic State, for example, has been able to project an impression of outsized strength and inspire fear in distant populations<\/a> by carefully manipulating diverse types of social media globally.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, then, Campbell recently warned Australians<\/a> about this 21st-century political warfare, grimly quoting Trotsky: \u2018\u201cYou may not be interested in war \u2026 but war is interested in you.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Social mobilisation in a contested environment involves not a clash of material as in traditional conceptions of armed conflict but a clash of ideas. In a new paper<\/a>, I examine the role of ideas in mobilisation; today\u2019s broad threat strategies (fomenting societal disruption, manipulating existing grievances and changing people\u2019s minds); potential counters, including legitimacy and strategic narratives; and pertinent media and governmental issues that arose in mobilising the Australian people during World War II. Importantly, while the ADF, as evidenced by Johnston\u2019s announcement, takes a particular interest in mobilisation, social mobilisation is inherently a whole-of-government, whole-of-society issue.<\/p>\n

This is a difficult topic to ponder in a democracy where the government responds to the people, not the reverse as in authoritarian states. Purposeful, whole-of-government social mobilisation carries dark overtones in seemingly implying propaganda, biased information promoting a particular political cause, or even worse: fake news involving false claims<\/a> made to deliberately mislead.<\/p>\n

Social mobilisation, however, cannot be neglected simply because it is troublesome. To do so would cede the field to less scrupulous forces and be to detriment of all Australians. Today\u2019s era of an externally contested social environment requires a reconsideration of social mobilisation and how to address real worries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As geostrategic circumstances darken, there\u2019s new interest in military mobilisation. For Australia, that involves moving the Australian Defence Force beyond its normal peacetime rate of effort. It can be an all-of-nation mobilisation for the \u2018big\u2019 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":49570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,973,2550,224],"class_list":["post-49569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-defence-force","tag-information-operation","tag-mobilisation","tag-social-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSocial mobilisation in a contested environment | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/social-mobilisation-in-a-contested-environment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social mobilisation in a contested environment | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As geostrategic circumstances darken, there\u2019s new interest in military mobilisation. 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