UGSP-Conference "Resilient State - Resilient Society: Lessons Learned?"

February 3, 2022, Tbilisi, Georgia
Conference Venue: Rooms Hotels Tbilisi (Merab Kostava St. 14)
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Conference Concept

At the Warsaw Summit 2016 the Alliance made it clear that that the security and defence of its member states and the key concept of deterrence is strongly dependent on the individual and collective resilience, to secure vital functioning of state and society, and return to previous state, i.e., the complex ability to absorb shocks and manage crises and emergencies (military, natural and manmade). But it also emphasized the need for a permanent adaptation and improvement, review and analysis of the lessons drawn from the crisis response with the respective implementation of the policy changes in the wide spectrum of state - and societal domains. Although enshrined in the Article 3 of the NATO charter and articulated in the Alliance's seven baseline requirements that reflect key policy level principles, neither military nor civil preparedness can work without the deep reaching efforts aimed at effective combination of societal cohesion (aspects of culture, tradition, morality and psychology) and institutional (state, non-state) responsiveness.

All this became even more relevant as traditional democracies, their institutions and cooperative frameworks are increasingly under attacks stirred and sponsored by antidemocratic and totalitarian forces. This dangerous tendency, if not properly checked and thwarted, may lead to shaking western unity and even more disastrous consequences, by destroying individual state's national unity and societal cohesion. Thus, the UGSP-conference objective is to discuss, analyze and conceptualize the principles of resilience, that have been already applied in various policy domains (state, organization and society) and can provide sufficient evidence and explanation for its successive implementation or, in contrary, failure. Conference participants are invited to contribute to the policy relevant and conceptual debate as well as to policy improvements   through their insights and research findings.

Audience:

The Conference discussion is primarily designed for relevant policy experts, civil society organizations and individuals with respective academic background. Invitation will also be extended to Georgian and foreign government institutions, to NATO, EU and member state embassies of these organizations in Tbilisi.

  • Security & Defence

  • In this panel, major attention is devoted to the fundamental mechanisms and principles of resilience, that find their manifestation in effective implementation of national security, and military aspects of deterrence and defence. Participants are encouraged to analyze, reflect, and provide recommendations on ongoing and planned measures based on the concrete examples and cases.
  • Information & Cyber

  • While referring to information warfare or the critical vulnerability caused by cyber-attacks, states, organizations, and societies serve as targets ultimately to be influenced and “shaped” in order to reach concrete political objective. Panel discussants will have to decode major tendencies in this field, identify problems and weaknesses in respective response policies and consequently, formulate suggestions that help increase national info-and cyber resilience.
  • Societal Dimensions

  • Such terms like national unity and societal cohesion, that were largely disregarded in the past, become crucial if not decisive while determining the state’s ability to resist and respond to various modes of adversarial attacks. Society under attack has far greater chance of success if prepared psychologically and morally and exposes high degree of unity. Panel participants are invited to reflect their findings in this regard and offer policy solutions to bridge existing deficiencies.
  • How to Respond

  • This panel will summarize the conclusions and findings discussed in the previous panels. Participants are invited to formulate and share the most effective methods to respond and minimize Russian malignant influence.

UG Security Platform