Bilal Arsalan, Hoogensen Gjørv Gunhild, Lanteigne Marc, Brancaleoni Rachele, Gjørv Jardar, Gui Daniele, Kielar Justyna Karolina, Aluola Caleb, Magalini Sabina
Centre for Peace Studies, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Troms, N9037, Norway.
Department of Social Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Troms, N9037, Norway.
Open Res Eur. 2023 Nov 23;3:209. doi: 10.12688/openreseurope.16733.1. eCollection 2023.
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated many fundamental and challenging implications regarding security, for both states and people. This article addresses the pandemic as a security threat, whereby societal and human dimensions of security are intertwined with the narrower (so-called traditional) state dimensions, culminating in comprehensive security. This article uses mixed methods, combining desk research and a selection of narratives or stories from several parts of the world that signify how the intersection of disinformation and populist discourses exacerbated the COVID-19 security challenges. These are analysed through an innovative comprehensive security analytical approach. Drawing on both security theory and policy, the article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic jeopardised security on multiple levels. First, the state's capacity to effectively act and deliver in the domestic sphere waned. Second, the social contract between the state and its citizens eroded as public trust dissipated. This article argues, however, that the most pervasive threat to security during the pandemic pertained to the exploitation of the information domain in relation to the state, society, and people. The article interrogates how mis- and disinformation about the pandemic compounded and exacerbated the security challenges it posed, often relying on existing narratives within right-wing populism movements to increase mistrust and discontent. These largely right-wing populist narratives contributed to broadening the gap between states and people, besides weakening public compliance with state health security measures. The nature of populism and the narratives of particularly right-wing populism contributed to increases in fragmentation, polarisation, and discrimination impacting societal trust. The article concludes with recommendations to mitigate the adverse impacts of mis- and disinformation, including reinvigorating the relationship between state institutions and the people to strengthen comprehensive security.
新冠疫情给国家和人民带来了诸多关乎安全的根本性且具有挑战性的影响。本文将疫情视为一种安全威胁，在这种威胁下，安全的社会和人类维度与狭义的（所谓传统的）国家维度相互交织，最终形成全面安全。本文运用混合研究方法，将案头研究与来自世界多个地区的一系列叙述或故事相结合，这些叙述或故事表明了虚假信息与民粹主义话语的交叉如何加剧了新冠疫情带来的安全挑战。通过一种创新的全面安全分析方法对这些内容进行分析。本文借鉴安全理论和政策，考察了新冠疫情如何在多个层面危及安全。首先，国家在国内有效行动和提供服务的能力减弱。其次，随着公众信任的消散，国家与公民之间的社会契约受到侵蚀。然而，本文认为，疫情期间对安全最普遍的威胁在于国家、社会和人民在信息领域受到的利用。本文探讨了关于疫情的错误信息和虚假信息如何加剧并恶化了其所带来的安全挑战，这些信息往往依赖于右翼民粹主义运动中的现有叙事来增加不信任和不满情绪。这些主要是右翼民粹主义的叙事，除了削弱公众对国家卫生安全措施的遵守外，还导致国家与人民之间的差距扩大。民粹主义的本质，尤其是右翼民粹主义的叙事，导致了碎片化、两极分化和歧视的加剧，影响了社会信任。文章最后提出了减轻错误信息和虚假信息负面影响的建议，包括重振国家机构与人民之间的关系以加强全面安全。
