Countering Information Operations Demands A Common Democratic Strategy

GLOBSEC Policy Institute is stepping up its cooperation with respected international think tanks on both sides of the Atlantic. As a practical outcome of such cooperation, Laura Rosenberger, Director of German Marshall Fund Alliance for Securing Democracy with her colleague Bradley Hanlon analysed responses of democratic government to information operations and identified promising practices and approaches. 

The paper explores approaches that democratic countries are adopting to counter information operations targeting their societies in order to identify common strategies and best practices.  Although these approaches are best accompanied by initiatives from the private sector and civil society, this paper focuses specifically on efforts made by democratic governments. These efforts include: creating cross-cutting structures for policy development and analysis of asymmetric threats; engaging and sharing information with technology companies; raising public awareness of the threat; building societal resilience through media literacy programs; constructing and reforming legal frameworks around transparency and election security; deterring malign actors through messaging and cost-raising measures; and finally, facilitating international coordination to identify threats and share best practices. 

This paper was produced as part of the “HADES ” project implemented by GLOBSEC.