Societal security comprises the ability of a society to sustain vital societal functions and secure its population’s lives, health, needs, and basic values under extraordinary stresses, known as crises. Crises can appear suddenly or develop in a creeping fashion. Such consequential developments can be caused by nature, by technological innovations or mishaps, or by humans through antagonistic acts, such as major crimes, terrorism, or acts of organized aggression.
This research initiative addresses questions of vulnerabilities, resilience and capabilities for crisis management related to prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. Issues concerning communications, media narratives and impacts of social media are central to the legitimacy and accountability of crisis management and societal resilience. Learning from such experiences and implementing lessons learned in future reforms are instrumental for enhancing capacities over time. Given that societal security challenges are transboundary there is much to be gained from Nordic and wider European and international collaboration.
The Nordic countries have strong track records of practical cooperation in many trans-border work areas since the 1950’s. This work was codified in the 1962 Helsinki Agreement outlining the objectives and instruments for Nordic cooperation across several policy fields. Over the last decades, societal security matters have also become the subject of more intense Nordic cooperation. Several political initiatives were launched, such as the Haga Declaration by the five responsible ministers in 2009, the 2011 Nordic Declaration of Solidarity by the Foreign Ministers and more recently the Nordic Council Strategy for Societal Security in 2019. Solid political support exists for continued and strengthened concrete and practical cooperation among the Nordic nations in this field.
This security-related work ought to be underpinned by research-based and evidence-based knowledge. Following the Haga Declaration, a Nordic expert group was appointed by NordForsk in 2012 to explore the prospects for Nordic research cooperation in this field. Based on its recommendation, the Nordic Societal Security Initiative was established in April 2013. Engagements with the practitioners of societal security, both at policy level and in the field, have been a hallmark of the problem-focused research initiative.
The objective of this multidisciplinary research initiative is to develop new knowledge about and solutions for the many aspects of societal security affecting the Nordic countries. By taking advantage of the typical Nordic openness towards the work of scientists and the range of comprehensive, accessible databases in the Nordic countries, a coordinated research initiative can pave the way for comparative studies of various social, economic, administrative, and political phenomena of importance to societal security.
A distinct Nordic research initiative is also important to gain strategic leverage and to strengthen Nordic contributions within the wider and larger scale security research components of the EU Horizon programme. The Brussels-based programmes do not primarily focus on topics of importance to the Nordic region or on issues in which Nordic scholarship excels. In order to gain leverage in these complex European processes, larger, better networked, more highly profiled and thematically targeted Nordic research communities are needed.
Bengt Sundelius, Chair of Call Committee