Jul 2026· SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN THE AIR FORCE· Vol 27, pp. 84-99· 0 citations
Abstract
The paper advances the central argument that cognitive resilience has emerged as a
distinct analytical and operational category within contemporary European Union security
studies. While related to psychological, societal, and informational resilience, cognitive resilience
is conceptualised here as a multidimensional capacity aimed at preserving the integrity,
adaptability, and coherence of cognitive processes under conditions of manipulation,
disinformation, and epistemic destabilisation.
Methodologically, the study employs a qualitative, theory-building research design,
combining conceptual analysis, systematic review of academic literature and EU strategic
documents, and theoretical meta-synthesis across security studies, cognitive warfare doctrine, and
cognitive psychology. This interdisciplinary approach enables the clarification of conceptual
boundaries and the integration of diverse theoretical perspectives into a coherent analytical
framework.
The findings demonstrate that cognitive resilience constitutes a necessary extension of the
resilience paradigm, addressing a critical gap in both academic literature and EU policy
frameworks. Existing approaches remain predominantly focused on regulating information flows
and mitigating external threats, while insufficiently addressing the internal cognitive mechanisms
that enable manipulation to be effective. In response, the paper proposes an operational definition
of cognitive resilience and identifies its core dimensions, cognitive filtering capacity,
interpretative coherence, adaptive flexibility, and epistemic trust, thus enabling future empirical
measurement and comparative research.
The study concludes that the integration of cognitive resilience fundamentally expands the
security paradigm, repositioning cognition as a central strategic domain and cognitive autonomy
as a key determinant of democratic stability. As such, cognitive resilience emerges not merely as a
complementary concept, but as a strategic capability essential for the EU’s capacity to withstand
and adapt to the challenges of contemporary cognitive warfare.
The concept of security culture has gained increasing prominence within
contemporary Security Studies, particularly in the context of hybrid threats, cognitive warfare,
and the growing emphasis on societal and national resilience. Despite its widespread use in both
academic and policy discourse, security culture remains conceptually ambiguous and
epistemologically under-defined, oscillating between a broad theoretical construct and a loosely
operationalised normative notion. This paper addresses this gap by advancing a systematic
epistemological clarification of the concept and by identifying the conditions under which it may
be transformed into a coherent analytical and operational category.
The study adopts a qualitative meta-theoretical approach, combining conceptual analysis,
systematic literature review, and comparative examination of adjacent constructs such as
strategic culture, political culture, and societal security. It demonstrates that the ambiguity
surrounding security culture stems from conceptual diffusion across paradigmatic boundaries, as
well as from the absence of clearly defined levels of abstraction and analytical criteria.
Building on these findings, the paper proposes a multidimensional framework encompassing
cognitive, normative, institutional, and behavioural dimensions, each associated with empirically
measurable indicators. This reconceptualisation contributes to strengthening the theoretical
coherence and methodological applicability of security culture as a key variable in analysing
contemporary security environments
Ruslana Grosu, Prascovia Vacaru· SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND EDUC...· 0 citations
Organisations increasingly recognise that cyber resilience cannot be achieved through technical controls alone, but critically depends on how individuals perceive and enact security requirements in everyday work. This paper synthesises current knowledge on the human factor in cyber resilience at the intersection of behaviour, organisational culture and sociotechnical design.First, core constructs are clarified by linking cyber resilience with established approaches from human factors and work and organisational psychology, including stress and cognitive load, trust and the psychological contract, security culture and human–technology interaction. On this basis, three levels of analysis are distinguished: an individual level (psychological resources and decision processes), an organisational level (leadership, culture, work organisation, perceived fairness and support) and a sociotechnical level (design of technologies, interfaces and digital assistance systems).Second, the paper conducts a structured narrative review of recent empirical and conceptual literature, drawing on seven scientific databases and restricted to peer-reviewed publications from 2023 onwards, to synthesise recurring psychological and organisational mechanisms that influence security‑relevant behaviour. Particular attention is paid to tensions between productivity pressures and security demands, as well as to the roles of emotions, fatigue and habituation in real‑world decision making. Third, the contribution formulates a literature‑based research agenda that highlights key priorities for future interdisciplinary research and for the development of resilience‑oriented awareness programmes, leadership practices, work organisation and adaptive sociotechnical solutions.
This paper reconsiders the concept of market resilience from a performative and practice-based perspective. We deliberate how dominant conceptions of market resilience are problematic as they overlook the open-ended, dynamic, and often messy ways in which markets evolve. Building on Science and Technology Studies (STS) and market studies, we develop a novel conceptualization of market resilience as dynamically enacted through three interlinked practices:
instigation
,
incorporation
, and
insistence
. We review how resilience has been framed in existing literatures, tracing its multifaceted origins rooted in desires to address uncertainty, withstand external threats, and achieve lasting recovery, to its current popularity in an anxiety-ridden age. We then draw on Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to identify three critical limitations of these dominant perspectives: (i) the presumption of resilience as an inherent capability, (ii) the obsession with failure prevention, and (iii) the tendency to encourage asymmetric rearview mirror accounts. Mobilizing examples from financial, housing, food, and healthcare markets, we sketch out how we might think differently of market resilience if we think of markets as in-the-making. By reconceptualizing resilience performatively – that is, as something that markets and entangled actors continuously
enact
, rather than have – we seek to move beyond narrow notions of failure prevention and recovery. Our research agenda highlights how this perspective opens up new avenues for examining resilience in markets as varied, contested, and always in the making.
Björn Fischer, Nurgül Özbek, Susi Geiger· Marketing Theory· 0 citations
Sustainability has become a central concept in global policy agendas, corporate strategies, and civil society discourse. Yet, despite its ubiquity, the term often functions as a vague ideal, encompassing divergent-and at times conflicting-interests. This study addresses the critical gap in understanding how sustainability operates not merely as an environmental or developmental goal, but as a discursive construction that shapes political identities and power relations. Drawing on post-structuralist theory, particularly the works of Foucault, Derrida, Laclau, and Mouffe, the research investigates how sustainability functions as a hegemonic identity by marginalizing alternative narratives and securing broad ideological consensus. Employing critical discourse analysis, the study examines policy documents and public narratives from the European Union, the United Nations, and Turkey to trace how sustainability is articulated, institutionalized, and contested in different governance settings. The findings indicate that sustainability has evolved into an “empty signifier”-a flexible concept that unites diverse agendas under a common rhetorical umbrella. While this discursive openness facilitates global alignment, it also allows for co-optation, symbolic politics, and the suppression of transformative alternatives. Emerging critiques such as degrowth and climate justice movements reveal the fragility of this consensus and highlight growing resistance to technocratic and market-driven sustainability models. By situating sustainability within a broader field of ideological struggle, the study underscores its unstable and contested nature. Recognizing the discursive mechanisms that elevate sustainability to hegemonic status opens space for more pluralistic, democratic, and justice-oriented sustainability imaginaries. These insights carry important implications for rethinking policy frameworks and grassroots strategies in the face of ecological and political crises.
Elif Saracoğlu· Humanities and Social Scienc...· 0 citations
This study investigates how Bali, Indonesia, and Beishan, China, strategically sustain their cultural identities amid globalising pressures. It addresses a gap in comparative resilience research by moving beyond sector-specific analyses to uncover the underlying principles of cultural adaptation. Using qualitative oral history, the research captures grassroots perspectives to reveal two contrasting paradigms: Bali enacts centripetal resilience, defending a sacred cultural core through ritual and social cohesion, whereas Beishan pursues centrifugal innovation, treating heritage as assets for entrepreneurial fusion with global culture. The findings demonstrate that the nature of perceived threats shapes whether communities adopt defensive fortification or proactive reinvention. The study argues that cultural resilience is not a universal strategy but a contextually coherent alignment of ontology, threat perception, and adaptive action. By proposing a comparative framework of centripetal and centrifugal resilience, it advances resilience theory and provides a transferable analytical lens for understanding how communities negotiate continuity and change across diverse cultural contexts.
I Putu Permana Mahardika, I Gusti Ayu Gde Sosiowati, I Wayan Mulyawan et al.· Jurnal Kajian Bali· 0 citations
Sustainable development has traditionally been understood as a framework balancing environmental, economic and social objectives. However, accelerating climate change, geopolitical instability, technological disruption and growing systemic risks challenge the conditions under which these objectives can be achieved. Despite expanding research on sustainability, resilience and security, their interrelationships remain fragmented across disciplinary perspectives. This article examines how the relationship between sustainable development and security has evolved and analyzes how existing discussions on sustainable security can be brought together into a more coherent analytical framework. The study applies qualitative document analysis, comparative analysis, thematic analysis and analytical synthesis of the academic literature, international policy documents and institutional reports. The analysis indicates that progress towards sustainable development depends to a substantial extent on the resilience of environmental, economic, societal and institutional systems. Rather than representing a separate policy field, sustainable security provides an integrative perspective that explains how these dimensions interact under conditions of systemic uncertainty. Building on existing research in sustainability, security, resilience and governance, the article develops an Integrated Sustainable Security Framework that brings these dimensions into a single analytical structure suitable for examining their mutual relationships. Its main contribution lies in integrating existing perspectives into an analytically consistent framework that may support future empirical and interdisciplinary research on the sustainability–security nexus.
Radoslav Ivančík, Jiří Dušek· Sustainability· 0 citations