Abstract: Among
a multitude of problems on security, in the context of the process of
modernization and state building in the Republic of Moldova, in order to
achieve a functional state structure and a society compatible with the EU
states members, the Moldovan state faces challenges regarding cyber and
information security. The globalization process, as context, enforces these
challenges. Such phenomenon as hybrid war, meaning a kind of confrontation
based mostly or first of all on the use of information (or disinformation) has
to be studied in Communication Sciences. In the current historical period, the
globalization process (meaning the proliferation of modern technologies as well
as the content of liberal democracy values and principles) has an impact on
global politics: on the reconfiguration of the world order. In the context of
the topical hybrid war, specialists in Communication can and should have the
knowledge and skills to cover also the field of Security Studies. This will be
a certain advantage for them on the national and international labor markets.
Keywords: Information
Security, Hybrid War, Resilience, Cyber Security, Republic of Moldova.
1. INTRODUCTION
Among a plenty of security problems for the Republic of Moldova, trying
to conduct a process of modernization and state building, in order to achieve a
functional state structure, a functional market economy and a free society,
compatible with the EU states members, the Moldovan state faces challenges
regarding information (and cyber) security. The globalization process, as
context, enforces these challenges. The phenomenon known as hybrid war means a
kind of confrontation based mostly, or first of all, on the use of information
(e.g. disinformation), which represents an information warfare. But the
information (and cyber) sectors are just two of the components of the hybrid
war, becoming prominent after the emergence of the Internet era. The others,
classical ones, are: the economic, political, societal, environmental and
military sectors (BUZAN, 2014). In the current historical period, the
globalization process means a proliferation of modern technologies (tools,
gadgets, infrastructure) as well as a proliferation of an ideological content
(in West: the promotion of liberal democracy values and principles; in Russia, China: the promotion of other
political values). This process has an impact on global politics: on the
reconfiguration of the world order (KISSINGER, 2015). The contradictions, the
competition and even the confrontation between world centers of power become
more evident, especially between Russia
and the West, in the context of Ukraine
crisis (BERCA, 2014). Small countries, such as Moldova, can be a battleground and
a victim of, in this confrontation between big geopolitical global and regional
actors. An important subject which characterizes the contemporary world is the
hybrid war (FEODOROV, 2016). This is the concept which determines the framework
of the theme of the present article. The notion of hybrid war has to be studied
not only in military academies, but also in civil higher education
institutions, because it affects all the sectors of a contemporary state: economy,
environment, information, politics, society (inter-ethnic and
inter-confessional relations) and others. In the context of the topical hybrid
war, specialists in Communication can and should have the knowledge and skills
to cover both the Communication Sciences and the Security Studies fields. The
security aspects have to be studded by the students at the faculties of
Communication Sciences. There is an interesting phenomenon of convergence of
the two scientific fields. This will be a certain advantage for them on the
national, regional and international labor markets.
2. THE INFORMATION SECURITY IN
THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
1. Media pluralism and the
concentration of ownership in Moldova.
There are a few challenges for Moldova’s
media in order to assure the pluralism of opinions in the country. The main one
is the increasing concentration of the politically-affiliated ownership of Moldova’s
media. This raises the concern both for the independence of the press, for its
capacity to be the forth power in the state and for the democracy as such. The
EU and the USA have
encouraged Moldova
to implement the democracy and the free market. Yet, over 80 percent of the
television market is owned by leaders of political parties or by persons affiliated
with them. Several recommendations can be offered in this regard. Moldova’s media
market needs deep reforms that would ensure media freedom and pluralism in
society. This can be done by the liberalization of the advertising market that
is monopolized and controlled by the leaders of political parties or by
politically-affiliated (with the same political leaders) persons. The goal
would be to remove media funding through advertising, from under the political
control. That would permit to support, by the economic agents, the free and
independent media. Another aspect is the support of the society to free media.
This is possible by increasing the media culture of the society. Republic of Moldova is a post-Soviet state, facing
many challenges on its path to democracy. One of the problems is the lack of
respect for the democratic practices, such as the division of branches of the
power in the state. Not only the judicial power is suspected to be subordinated
to political actors, but also the media, as the fourth power in the state. The
increasing consolidation of Moldova’s
media in ownership of politicians in power or of persons affiliated with political
parties raises big concern for the democratic development of the country, the
integrity of the country’s democratic institutions, the independence of the
press and the pluralism in society. The international community, especially the
United States of America and
the European Union, has encouraged Moldova’s authorities to create the
necessary conditions for the media normal activity, such as the access to
information of public interest from the state institutions or about state men,
which would force the politicians or officials to avoid corruption and
embezzlement. A few reforms are necessary in order to engage meaningfully the
state structures and all citizens to improve the media situation, in order to
ensure the media freedom and the pluralism in society. The main challenges for
Moldova’s media and pluralism of opinions in the country mean to stop the
concentration of Moldova’s media into the hands (ownership) of politicians in
power or politically-affiliated persons, as the implications of this phenomenon
are very negative for the Moldovan society and for democracy in Moldova.
However, without a pressure on behalf of the European Union, the USA, the
international institutions, real progresses in this field are impossible.
2. Media literacy and the challenge
of fake news. Minority groups from Moldova consume information from
Russian media. This is a challenge to the national security and the democratic
development of the country. External sources are attractive to all Moldovan
public, because of the fact that local media outlets cannot be financed at the
same level. This leads to the opportunity to manipulate the popular opinion and
undermine the cohesion of the multiethnic society – the society security. The
lack of media literacy and critical thinking makes Moldova’s audience vulnerable to
manipulations, creating an opportunity for external propaganda to divide the
society by geopolitical and ethnical criteria. The propaganda of Russian media
affects Moldova’s
media sector and the entire society, in the context of the hybrid war,
countering the Western values, as well as the international norms, such as the
territorial integrity and the national sovereignty of the states. Trying to
reestablish its sphere of influence, Kremlin uses hard power (as in Crimea, Eastern Ukraine or Transnistria – in 1992) and soft power
– by its propaganda, compromising the Western style of life and promoting the
Russian (conservative?) approach. Being aware of the danger of Russian
propaganda, the example of Baltic countries in facing similar informational
challenges is very useful: for example, Estonia created broadcasting in
Russian language – in order to counter Kremlin’s propaganda.
3. Information resilience of Moldova’s media
sector. The problem of the information resilience of Moldova’s media
sector became a matter of national security. The information sector is one of
the main spheres of the security field. At the same time, the development of
resilience of the media sector is one of the main components of democracy
building. Therefore, the resilience of Moldova’s
media sector is towards internal political actors that want to subordinate and
control media resources and towards external instruments of propaganda, which
can destabilize the situation in Moldova by supporting proseparatist
movements, parties that are opposite to the European integration into the
liberal democratic space of freedom, security and prosperity. The experience of
Ukraine and Georgia in the media sector is very useful for
the development of resilience in the media domain from Moldova, taking
into account that those two countries are more advanced. The Ukrainian and
Georgian media sectors are more efficient in defending democracy, human rights,
the rule of law and countering disinformation. Only a resilient media sector
can accomplish such objectives. A few threats – polarization (East – West),
rise of nationalist rhetoric in public space and others – are common and must
be considered in the process of building resistance to domestic political
control and disinformation. The Moldovan civil society pays attention to
information security as an important sector of security field. Being a post-Soviet,
young state, the Republic
of Moldova faces many
internal vulnerabilities and external threats. In order to stabilize the
internal situation, one of the vulnerabilities that Moldova has to eliminate is the
constant attempt from the political actors to influence, subordinate and
control the media sector. A sign of the fact that a sate became democratic is the
presence of an independent media. In must build resilience in order to counter
all attempts to subordinate it by diverse political actors. One of the main
threats that the Moldovan society faces is the internal and the external
propaganda. Supporting the pro-separatist movement and the anti-Western
political forces, the instruments of propaganda can destabilize Moldova. That
is why the resilience of Moldova’s
media against the Russian Media resources is one of the conditions for Moldova’s
escaping from the Russian sphere of influence and of survival of the Moldovan
state. Being a component of the hybrid war, the information warfare is a
special theme researched by several Moldovan specialists and experts in
Security Studies and it must be studied by specialists in Communication Studies
as well. The Ukrainian and Georgian experience in this field is very useful for
the Moldovan scientific researchers, because Ukraine
and Georgia
are more advanced in this field.
3. STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION IN
SECURITY AND DEFENSE FIELD: NEEDS AND PERSPECTIVES
The new paradigms of the 21st century conflicts call for new government
approaches in order to face multiple problems of instability and uncertainty
both at national and regional (international) levels (MAIOR, 2015). In the
current security environment, states in general, and the armed forces in
particular, are obliged to cope with tasks of deploying combat actions by using
new technologies, systems and platforms of intelligent weapons, advanced
sensors and digitization of the battle space – the space of confrontation. The
informational strategic tool used to promote and defend national interests, in
time of peace, in situations of crisis and during the armed conflict/war, gets
a particular importance. The evolution of the events in recent years shows that
we witness the emergence of a new kind of aggression, not military, a new type of
war, an invisible war with subtle manifestations and forms which are much more
effective than the classical ones, called hybrid war. The geopolitical actors,
which pay much attention to communication, deploy a process meant to achieve a
certain perception by the large public, in the contemporary security
environment. Their strategic goal is to achieve credibility, legitimacy, and
therefore discouragement and freedom action, vital to support the national
strategy and to protect, to restore and to maintain the achievement of national
objectives and permanent national interests. Within the National Defense
Strategy of the Republic
of Moldova, it is
mentioned: “the strategic communication will become the indispensable
information element of the national authorities, representing one of the
instruments that the state has at its disposal to achieve its objectives in the
field of security and defense. In this direction, efforts will be directed
towards developing an efficient strategic communication vision, towards the
transformation of the institutional communication structures towards developing
forms of collaboration and interaction. Thus, a common interpretation is
required for the necessary strategic communication at the level of all public
authorities and at the level of all policies and strategies” (LEX JUSTICE,
2018). At the same time, we can not overlook the fact that in Moldova a
Strategy for information and communication in the field of national defense and
security (SICASN) was adopted in 2012, which established a national
communication mechanism meant to inform the public about the reformation of the
security sector and national policies in this regard. However, the completed
studies in this regard note that the Strategy did not have the expected impact
due to the lack of joint efforts of the institutions and partners in
implementing the document, but also because of the inability to adapt the
institutional communication to the new internal and external security
developments. More specifically, the Communication Strategy is no longer
present after Russia’s
aggression in Ukraine
(BERCA, 2014), which has changed the European security paradigm and deepened
the informational wars, whose authors tend to manipulate the public opinion.
The actuality of the topic proposed for discussion is also determined by
the fact that, given the impact of strategic communication, many professionals
borrow this concept irresponsibly and create different definitions and roles
for it, causing confusion. As a result, each public or government entity
develops a strategic communication plan without any preliminary analysis or
assessments. At the same time, the strategic communication becomes confused
when perceived as a simple effort to achieve social or marketing communication.
Finally, within the academic environment and civil society, good communication
is both a function and proof of good governance: in a democracy, informative
and transparent communication is essential to maintaining a productive and
lasting relationship between the executive, the legislative, the judiciary and
the electorate. However, what does it mean strategic communication? Moreover,
what place should it have in planning and implementing a national defense
strategy? There is a need for a common vision of strategic communication in the
security and defense sector in the context of the current security environment.
This means: 1. There should be identified the possibilities to ensure a common
understanding of how to effectively implement the strategic communication
process, not only involving the sources of transmission to the target audience,
but rather the active engagement between the parties in a continuous process.
This commitment action derives from the challenges of the current security
environment security policies, strategic vision and national interest,
operational needs and the need for a coordinated action plan. 2. There should
be developed recommendations for the actors involved in the strategic
communication process in the field of security and defense, taking into account
that the strategic communication of the Republic of Moldova
is seen as an inherent component of the national strategy and governance. In
order to fulfill its role, the strategy is based on a well-structured process
that reflects the Moldovan specificities and builds an effective and
sustainable (“pathway”) link between communication objectives (“results”) and
communication capabilities (“means”). In this context, a few aspects should be
taken into account: a) the implications of the current security environment on
how to communicate in the field of security and defense issues: academic
approaches; b) when is communication strategic? How to make it strategic? c)
what is the Strategic Communication for the Security and Defense Sector? d) who
needs to ensure strategic communication on security and defense? e) which is
the audience in the strategic communication process? f) in crisis situations,
is there also strategic communication? g) how to communicate within the current
security environment (institution to institution, institution to citizens,
citizens to institution, etc.)? h) how can we achieve an effective strategic
communication? i) why is it necessary to institutionalize the Strategic
Communication? The studies on the concept of Strategic Communication (Stratcom)
should be focused on the efficiency from the perspective of practical solutions
to counteract the threats in the current security environment (environment that
has major implications for national security and for communication process in
promoting national interests, and providing a security and defense sector
capable of responding to these threats). The results of the researches on
Stratcom should contribute to: 1) identifying the need to ensure a common
understanding on how to implement effectively the strategic communication
process in the field of security and defense; 2) developing recommendations for
potential actors in the strategic communication process and generally in the
security and defense field.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The information security of the Republic
of Moldova can be negatively affected
in the context of Russia
– West contradictions in the contemporary stage of world’s development. Another
very important threat to the national security of the Republic of Moldova
is the cyber one. It represents a risk of a similar importance as the
information aggression is. Cyber space became the battleground for interaction
between power poles in the contemporary world. In fact, the notions of cyber
security and information security are deeply, inextricably linked. The
allegations about Russia’s
implication in presidential elections in the USA
(2016), by hackers’ attacks, showed that cyber security represents a
vulnerability even for the advanced states – global geopolitical actors such as
the US.
In the current global and regional geopolitical and security context, it is
very important to pay more attention, within Communication Sciences, to
information security of the European countries, especially to those from
Eastern Europe – the former Soviet space (the so-called, by Russian
authorities, Near Abroad). In the conditions of increasing contradictions
between Russia and West,
small states such as the Republic
of Moldova became a
confrontation field between the global/regional power centers. A small country
like Moldova, placed at the border between the EU / the NATO and Russia (taking
into account the real control of Russia in Transnistria), can be a victim in
this war, if the Moldovan authorities do not take the necessary measures in
order to protect the national security from this regard and to promote the
national interests though Stratcom. East European countries became case studies
on information aggression and other kind of struggles (in specialized on
Security Studies literature, called Hybrid War) between regional/global actors.
Within the information warfare (which is a component of a possible new Cold
War) between Moscow and Washington/Brussels (the NATO, the EU), Moldova can be
vulnerable. All these aspects can be studied at some special courses in the
Communication Sciences faculties. It is important to identify effective
responses to all information (as well as to cyber) challenges, threats and
risks. The globalization process, as context for the contemporary world, in the
current historical period of international development, enforces these
challenges through the Internet and High Tech (proliferation of a multitude of
gadgets). Through the modern technologies, the globalization process makes it
easier the proliferation of a massive content, increasingly disseminated,
through the Internet. A characteristic of contemporary world is promoting
specific values and principles: of liberal democracy (from West), of
conservatism (from Russia), communism (from China) and other. This aspect has a
crucial impact on global politics: on the reconfiguration of the world order.
We can witness a revival of an ideological war between power centers. The
hybrid war phenomenon, which means a confrontation based on the use of
information (in fact: disinformation) covers also the ideological wars in the
world. The current historical period is characterized by the transition from
unipolar to multipolar world order. In the context of the topical hybrid war –
of confrontation between power centers in all sectors – specialists in
Communication can and should have knowledge and skills in covering also the
field of Security Studies. This will be a certain advantage for them on the
national and international labor markets.
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Mai vezi acest articol și în International Journal of Communication Research, Volume 9 • Issue 2, April / June 2019, Iași, România, PP. 107-112. http://www.ijcr.eu/articole/444_02%20Aurelian%20LAVRIC.pdf
