During the recent Stratcom Summit 2023 held in Istanbul by the Presidency’s Directorate of Communications under the overarching theme of "Global Response to Hybrid Threats: Stability, Security, Solidarity," the international audience gathered was exposed to thought-provoking insights into why strategic communication matters in times of peace, but even more so in times of a crisis.

World-renowned academics, innovators, practitioners and researchers, to name but a few of professional backgrounds, used these two days to come to terms with the fact that while words will always be the most relevant means of communicating with each other, technology has become a similarly non-disposable factor. Many speakers highlighted that this access to information technology and the advent of the internet, including social media, necessitate our own scrutiny and perhaps more stringent approaches from regulators and lawmakers. At stake: the spread of disinformation and fake news.

By the sheer size of this two-day event, it is most naturally impossible to give every speaker and their reflections adequate line space; hence, we are faced with a particular dilemma, yet a decision was made based on the following parameters:

On the one hand, was there a particular bilateral Türkiye dimension attached to any specific presentation that was not just welcomed in Istanbul itself, but at the other end, also welcomed in the country where the speaker resides typically?

On the other hand, could this form of proactively communicating with each other perhaps allow for an increased number of similar bilateral joint ventures in the future, even if most probably on a smaller scale, as Stratcom 2023 was genuinely exceptional?

Let’s turn our attention to Professor Dr. David F. J. Campbell from the University of Vienna in Austria, an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Sciences. During a panel titled ‘New Fronts of Hybrid Threats,’ Dr. Campbell addressed various points. For today’s discussion, let’s focus on two aspects: first, whether political actors tethered to the past can impede new developments, ideas and paths to progress; and second, why a Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE) could be pivotal in fostering democracy in places where it may not be fully implemented.

From Victor Hugo to today’s KBE

Campbell kicked off his talk by referring to former French Senator and author Victor Hugo: "On résiste à l’invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l’invasion des idées." (One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the attack of ideas.)

These renowned words, articulated by Hugo (1802-1885) in "Histoire d’un Crime" (The History of a Crime) in 1877, set the tone for Campbell’s exploration.

He then asked the audience a thought-provoking question: "So, has the time for democracy already arrived?"

As Campbell continued to unfold his ideas, he highlighted a correlation between autocracies and democracies. Even semi-autocratic or fully autocratic regimes eventually incorporate success stories from democracies, whether in terms of economic achievements or overall advancements in research and development.

Moreover, what the audience likely took away is twofold: firstly, there is no more fitting place to address these issues than in today’s Republic of Türkiye – a proud nation that wholeheartedly embraces all aspects of democracy and extends a helping hand to other countries, should they desire, to glean from Türkiye’s best practices in this regard. This underscores the importance of international solidarity over neo-colonialism.

Secondly, bridge-building between two nations – Austria and Türkiye – is a strategic approach for fostering fair, yet candid, two-way communication. Stratcom garnered significant attention in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), earning favorable headlines.

Countering the threat of disinformation and fake news by negatively influencing society, the chapter of his next presentation focused on the importance of transforming societies into knowledge-based economies (KBE). As a globally recognized author, he has widely published about KBE.

Quoting from his talk, he said, "For the ‘knowledge democracy,’ the following understanding is key: Political pluralism is finding an equivalent in a diversity and heterogeneity of different knowledge modes and innovation modes, which co-evolve, and where there are also processes of mutual learning."

He then asked the following thought-provoking question: "Does the further advancement of knowledge and innovation require a democracy?"

No finger-pointing – let societies decide for themselves?

This piece now delves into the analytical segment of this opinion contribution: is it accurate to assert that society becomes more democratic by default as it absorbs greater knowledge? Moreover, if access to escalating levels of understanding is confined to a privileged few, does it not undermine the essence of democracy? Lastly, how can the dissemination of information and knowledge be effectively managed – by placing it online or in a library or by engaging directly with the audience through communication?

We are then immediately confronted with two intertwined problems: shall knowledge be "free," in the sense that there is never any control? Think fake knowledge, so to speak. Consider hate speech online and keep in mind criminal or terrorist "knowledge." And, if that is the appropriate terminology, how do you define a nation’s body of knowledge?

This conclusion brings us to a major underlining subject of the Stratcom Summit: agreeing that full-fledged democracies depend on citizens’ free and unhindered access to information, it is nevertheless a sign of the times that due to the rapid spread of disinformation and fake news, including outright lies to distort a global audiences’ perception of a particular event – think the Israeli invasion into Palestine – the day might arrive when democracies must somehow step in and step up to start regulating especially social media. But would this, by definition, not be ‘anti-democratic’? And to make matters worse, what if a certain government engages in ‘fake knowledge-based verbal warfare’ and completely distorts reality on the ground as part of an ill-fated propaganda machine campaign?

Democracy is always a work in progress; there is no finite model or variety of it as societies constantly develop and acquire more and more knowledge, making daily life more enjoyable, prosperous and more human. Hence, a community cannot declare – this is it, no more new knowledge, please. Static organizations often initially turn anti-democratic, later on, anti-pluralist, and into dictatorships.

The art of communication begins at home and continues at school. First, listening, then talking, is a major key to a fruitful dialogue. All Stratcom 2023 participants' wise deliberations, including those by Prof. Campbell, made clear that as long as we intertwine a full-fledged KBE with a full-fledged (albeit always in progress) – democracy, chances are that one day we successfully stem the tide of fake news, disinformation, hate speech and outright criminal lies circulating on the internet. Keyword: "communicating;" communicating the benefits of a pluralist democracy much more proactively could just well become the key to erasing violent verbal warfare, including disinformation and fake news on social media.

Would it not be wonderful if our societies achieved this ambitious goal through civil society, parents, schools, educators, colleagues and free and unbiased media without the need to curb access to technology and the Internet?

Much food for thought – looking forward to Stratcom 2024!