NATO and Societal Resilience: All Hands on Deck in an Age of War

Resilience is generally defined as a system’s capacity to maintain functionality during challenging times and to recover from shocks or crises with minimal disruption. In defence terms, resilience has traditionally been viewed in the context of responding to an armed attack. It involves not only the capacity of the armed forces to carry out their missions but also society’s ability to withstand and recover from attacks. This ensures that harm to civilians is minimised, society can continue supporting military needs (enablement), and military resources are not excessively redirected toward civilian crises. Within NATO, this concept is known as “civil preparedness”, while resilience refers to the combined impact of both civil preparedness and military capability. 

In 2016, NATO allies established resilience guidelines and committed to meeting “Baseline Requirements for National Resilience”. In 2021, they further reinforced this commitment by adopting the Strengthened Resilience Commitment. Seven baseline requirements are designed to assess preparedness levels and emphasise key functions: continuity of government, essential services for the population, and civil support for military operations. At the NATO summit in Madrid in June 2022, allies agreed to define national resilience goals and implementation plans and share these through the newly established Resilience Committee. 

For NATO members in the EU, resilience will be guided by both NATO standards and the EU’s proposed Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Directive. The CER Directive requires EU member states to produce resilience strategies, risk assessment and critical entities identification across ten critical sectors. While the CER Directive is focusing on civilian infrastructure without explicit military enablement, coordinated efforts between NATO and EU bodies could enhance coherence in resilience planning. 

The authors of the policy brief advice that new functions such as payment systems, psychological defence, and continuity of data and infrastructure should be added to NATO's baseline requirements. Furthermore, greater use of quantitative indicators should measure progress in fulfilling NATO's baseline requirements for each ally. Lastly, existing allies should learn from another with regards to their comprehensive defence and security approaches and in their efforts to increase societal resilience.

Reference: Christie, E. H., Berzina, K. (2022). NATO and Societal Resilience: All Hands on Deck in an Age of War. The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF).