Determinants of strategic communication significant for national defense and security
Authors: Mitrovic Miroslav 
Published: September 2019

Strategic communication is one of the expressions of state power and
represents an instrument in the political and security achievement of
national interests. In the context of contemporary conflicts, it is an
expression of a hybrid action in the fields of information, media, internet,
and the entire spectrum of public diplomatic performances. It can have an
offensive or defensive character. The main goal is to influence the public
opinion and further move the focus in relation to the public towards
cultural values and eventual adjustment of the political system through the
?reprogramming? of the political culture in accordance with the given
objectives. Strategic communication is a planned and comprehensive activity
of the organizational entity, which aims at achieving a successful and
efficient interaction with the environment. Some of the elementary forms of
strategic communication that support the highest national goals, even in the
case of defense and security issues, are propaganda, public diplomacy, and
interest communications (advocacy, lobbying, etc.). In this paper, using the
analysis of the content and synthesis, a projection of strategic
communication in the scope of propaganda, public diplomacy, and lobbying as
determinants of strategic communication is presented. A framework for
strategic propaganda planning, a strategic approach to public diplomacy, and
a lobbying strategy have been developed, with a basic proposal for the
modelling of every listed component of strategic communication. The paper
contributes to the thesis that strategic communication aims at supporting
the organization?s mission. In the field of defense and security, strategic
communication has one of the vital roles in supporting the achievement of
the mission of strengthening the overall identity, the international
position of internal cohesion and the unity of the nation, as well as the
general readiness to respond to the contemporary security challenges.
Strategic communication represents a wide area of communication disciplines
that combine different co-information areas, disciplines, and skills in a
hybrid and inventive way. Strategically guided propaganda, public diplomacy,
and lobbying are certainly areas of importance for the comprehensive
construction of the ?soft? power, but also in support of the construction of
the ?hard? power. The conclusion is that the planning and implementation of
the strategic communication, through strategic determinants, such are
propaganda, public diplomacy, and lobbying, must be meticulously studied and
planned, according to scientific and practice-tested postulates. In this
way, it is possible that strategic communication really strongly and
significantly supports the achievement of the organization?s mission, which
in the case of the state relates to its international position, resistance
to contemporary, hybrid challenges of risk and threats, and readiness for
the defensive, and, if necessary, offensive activity. This approach seeks to
raise general defense capacities, thus turning the state into an unwanted
opponent, and achieving the effect of preventing and deterring possible
aggressive action.