NATO’s national resilience mandate: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Abstract National resilience, defined by NATO as a state’s ability to “resist and recover from a major shock such as a natural disaster, failure of critical infrastructure, or a hybrid or armed attack” must be at the forefront of discussions over the forthcoming Strateic Concept. What emerging challenges exist to national resileince, and how could NATO continue to evolve its response to these? How should our thinking evolve on deterring hybrid action and interference in democratic systems? This paper argues for four additional new national and alliance-wide resilience efforts: (1) a new baseline requirement for the protection of democracy; (2) efforts to reduce reliance on energy assets from non-NATO members, especially Russia; (3) mitigation initiatives to reduce the risk posed by foreign investment in vital infrastructure; and (4) the development of unambiguous standards for member state resilience.