GLOBAL SECURITY
When Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky began daily social media broadcasts chronicling his country ’ s resistance to the Russia invasion , he was not only stiffening the resolve of his people , but also he was launching – and winning – a whole new arms race . Zelensky was taking the use of social media to unprecedented levels as a strategic and tactical weapon . Broadcasts from his parliamentary office and from hidden command centres , and ‘ selfies ’ with his soldiers preparing for battle , were fed into the real-time global connectivity that the internet has given people around the world .
People were not just witnessing the brutality of an invasion but also connecting with each other in their response . A new dynamic in global politics and global security was unfolding with each Zelensky Instagram and Twitter post .
The development was , and continues to be , assiduously studied by researchers at the University of Portsmouth who specialise in international affairs . It adds a new dimension to global geopolitics , posing an intriguing question : to what extent could today ’ s internet generations counter , even thwart , nationalism and governments that still have ‘ old world ’ territorial ambitions ?
As Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations Dr Paul Flenley notes , the leaders of most countries in the West still view global risk and security ( as it relates to nation states ) through the prism of the Cold War and its aftermath . This has continued to shape international relations in the decades since , but the generations that are driving today ’ s global view of politics , economics and society generally weren ’ t born then .
Similarly , Dr Patricia Shamai , Principal Lecturer in International Relations at the University , points to a growing assumption over the past decade , especially among the generation represented by her students , that information technology ( IT ) has made the world more focused on security concerns that transcend the state , such as international terrorism and climate change . There has been less focus on territorial issues and an assumption that these no longer matter : “ But as the invasion of Ukraine and moves by China in the South China Sea show , they clearly still do .”
Russia ’ s invasion of Ukraine may be a wake-up call to post-Cold War generations , or be such an affront to modern thinking that Western governments will need new playbooks for how they respond , diplomatically or otherwise , to keep their own constituents on side .
PHOTO : BRAD COLLIS
36 ISSUE 04 / 2022