Participatory Democracy in the Age of Disinformation: EU and NATO Strategies for Protecting Participatory Democracy as Part of National Security
Participatory Democracy in the Age of Disinformation: EU and NATO Strategies for Protecting Participatory Democracy as Part of National Security

Summary/Abstract: A democracy requires freedom of expression. Corresponding passages can already be found in the American Bill of Rights (1791) and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789). However, this basic requirement was formulated during the first wave of globalization. Today, society is in its fifth wave – and each wave has led to an expansion of freedom. Whereas in the 18th century limited channels of information existed, today’s information landscape has been exponentially expanded by the internet, increasing digitalization and AI. This expansion makes it difficult to validate information and encourages the spread of disinformation, which is not always immediately recognizable as such and thus enables the manipulation of actions in everyday life and political decisions. Disinformation therefore influences not only individual opinion-forming, but also participatory democratic processes, and can have security-related effects. Mitigating these effects requires measures and coordinated implementation at both national and international level. Against this background, this article analyses current strategies of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to contain disinformation to protect participatory democracy as a component of national security, reviews their effectiveness through SWOT analysis and examples of real disinformation campaigns, and reflects on whether the current strategies are geared towards potential threats.

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