Ministry of Defence
Our second research project will be conducted in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Defence and the section CAI (cultural-historical backgrounds and information) in particular. The CAI department conducts a lot of research on conflict areas that the Dutch army is involved in, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Mali. Their research is implemented in cultural and historical lessons that are given to militaries that are about to be deployed in one of the worldwide military missions. With these lessons, militaries are better prepared to understand the dynamics of the country that they have to operate in.
Our research conducted for the Ministry of Defence targets the ‘Enhanced Forward Presence’ mission from NATO. Since a couple of years, NATO has deployed militaries from a range of countries in the Baltics to deter the Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, which was most notably visible by the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Dutch Armed Forces have also sent a share of 270 people, all deployed in Rukla, Lithuania.
In the Baltics, a trend is currently visible of information operations, conducted by several parties, including Russia. These kinds of non-military resources are used nowadays more often to undermine opponents and are different from classical military actions. Generally, this development is referred to as ‘Hybrid Warfare’. Particularly the spread of misinformation to create chaos and uproar amongst civilians is one of the main aspects of this ‘Hybrid Warfare’.
Our research is linked to the ‘Hybrid Warfare’ in Lithuania. The goal of the research is to get an overview of which parties are involved in the misinformation war and how this misinformation affects the Lithuanian people especially. After this overview is established, the research focuses on policy advice for the Dutch Armed Forces to create ‘mental resilience’ among Lithuanians to cope with these flows of misinformation.
Our research conducted for the Ministry of Defence targets the ‘Enhanced Forward Presence’ mission from NATO. Since a couple of years, NATO has deployed militaries from a range of countries in the Baltics to deter the Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, which was most notably visible by the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Dutch Armed Forces have also sent a share of 270 people, all deployed in Rukla, Lithuania.
In the Baltics, a trend is currently visible of information operations, conducted by several parties, including Russia. These kinds of non-military resources are used nowadays more often to undermine opponents and are different from classical military actions. Generally, this development is referred to as ‘Hybrid Warfare’. Particularly the spread of misinformation to create chaos and uproar amongst civilians is one of the main aspects of this ‘Hybrid Warfare’.
Our research is linked to the ‘Hybrid Warfare’ in Lithuania. The goal of the research is to get an overview of which parties are involved in the misinformation war and how this misinformation affects the Lithuanian people especially. After this overview is established, the research focuses on policy advice for the Dutch Armed Forces to create ‘mental resilience’ among Lithuanians to cope with these flows of misinformation.
