With an abundance of threats globally, from external actors seeking to inflame subversion vis-à-vis election interference to internal ‘flashpoints’ ranging from economic, social and most importantly deriving through political parties that seek to come to power through coalitions with legally dubious fringe groups or incumbents that idealize remaining in power even at the expense of one’s national constitution, both scenarios in turn upending the cohesive integrity of the state, countries require continuity plans to ensure stable, secure and harmonious rule in unison with the needs of its citizenry in the age of Great Power Competition.
State collapse regularly occurs in quadrants of the world where conflict, be that due to either internal or external factors irrespectively, has become embedded across generations of the populace however at present within the post-pandemic landscape of unilateralism, ’causality’ of state disruption has experienced a ‘metamorphosis’ with regard to its underlying factors. Internal civil strife, whether due to inflation on the economic level or most alarmingly, the escalation of political machinations either to maintain the ‘status quo’ or to sway voters towards selecting the opposition via a constant campaign against the founding principles & tenents of one’s country disguised under the semantic moniker of ‘change’ are the perils that lurk from within. The latter, or in other words politically charged dissent, either by incumbents or the opposition is now the premier threat to the established healthy function of states across the world, notably NATO member states which must safeguard themselves from such domestic perils across the Mediterranean where the Russian Federation & the Chinese People’s Republic would seek to exacerbate such tensions occurring in the aforementioned vicinity and also notably the Islamic State of Iran who is executing similar provocation inducing steps within stable Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman where state continuity planning is of the utmost importance equally.
Beyond the present-day conventional usage of social media in order to promote civil strife in otherwise stable countries or for that matter artificially exacerbate countries with domestic issues that occur ‘organically’, with on the ground steps taken to inflame divisions in society in order to threaten constitutional regimes by the aforementioned actors precipitate topics which may have been legitimate grievances to become weaponized tools to dismantle the apparatus of one’s state. In both situations being able to effectually maximize the term of emergency continuity governance is key, ushering in a new and harmonious period of rule whilst simultaneously appearing to accommodate the sensitivities of both incumbents and the opposition until the public see clearly that state continuity governance is the ideal choice to continue as the default option, rather than existing or prior political options, whereby making it not simply a facet to utilize when gravity in politics is required, though rather the very choice to behold in every circumstance going forward.
For such a structure to become either the normative option or a trendsetter unto itself, countries must lead the charge in freeing themselves of ideologies and embracing the functionality of the state apparatus in order to prioritize their own national security, their domestic economy and their societal stability whilst safeguarding due process on provisioning the necessary constitutional reform needed to ‘embed’ this approach into a wider-long-standing regime capable of withstanding the continued challenges to the rules based established order we are witnessing in both the war in Ukraine as per the transgressions of the Russian Federation as well as the continued build-up vis-à-vis China’s desire to blockade Taiwan and impose a defacto state of isolation upon Taipei. The next age that approaches is one akin to the nuclear posturing age of the Cold War except it shall focus on the rhetoric focusing on hypersonic capabilities, as such we as the allied community of nations and as per NATO, must continue to modernize our existing tactical nuclear weapons as well as begin to integrate hypersonic ‘hardware’ placement across NATO counties in nations that already hold alliance wide nuclear prowess. To face these threats, a counter-revolution is required which is continuous, apolitical, and powerful with regard to being able to execute its Executive’s directives within nations adhering to the aforementioned doctrine.
The issues we face in the coming months, years and decades are too significant to leave at the mercy of politicians seeking to prioritize their personal dealings amongst one another and also across the aisle even when overtly portraying themselves to be contrasting political pathways to one another when they are in fact two sides of the same ideological coin, consequently an apolitical era in leadership (even whilst defending the existing regime of client nations) from the Executive to their Cabinet Team as well as the subsequent layers in the organization chart below must be established by forward thinking and aspiring leaders to ensure that many of the most powerful countries within NATO and beyond the alliance, remain with their prowess intact whilst we prepare to face foes who’s true intent behind the connotations of challenging the rules based international order, is to upend our very way of life itself.
[Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, via Wikimedia Commons]
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
Alp Sevimlisoy is an internationally published geopolitical strategist & national security expert on NATO’s role within the Mediterranean, focusing on regional unionism & defense policy. Alp Sevimlisoy’s international media coverage leads him to be consistently interviewed & his columns to be featured by globally renowned news networks across the United States, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Alp Sevimlisoy is a Millennium Fellow at the Atlantic Council headquartered in Washington. He is also the CEO of his flagship private asset management corporation headquartered in Istanbul, Alp Sevimlisoy Yatırım. He has formerly been an advisory board member at Bayes Business School.
