CC BY
105IDEOLOGY AND INFORMATION SECURITY
Gagik Harutyunyan
The article shows that because of the current system crisis the liberal concepts lose their monopolistic positions. In turn, competitive abilities of societies and their levels of national security are stipulated by their capacity to create a polyideological system with proportionally represented universal and nationally conservative ideologies. According to the our approach, a national-conservative ideology can be identified with the concept of information security for a given society. In this context a special significance will belong to establishing and preserving the critical infrastructures having ideological character.
The current crisis is often interpreted as a result of mistakes committed exclusively in the financial sphere. However, this explanation is primitive, and the economic problems are only one part of the cause-and-effect complex. In particular, the establishment of the multi-polar world is indicative not only of the termination of the American monopoly in the political and economic spheres. The liberal ideology supporting the value system of consumer society and having acquired totalitarian tendencies is also losing its dominant positions today (see, e.g., [1]). It means that changes occur primarily in the public consciousness and psychology, i.e., in the ideological sphere, new, original and multi-polar approaches are also being established. Such conceptual changes affect the systems of national security and ideology.
1. Formation of Polyideology
It is known that today the traditional Western (particularly American) liberal postulations and their unified forms of economic management renounce their monopolistic positions. This is partially corroborated by a considerable growth in the role and interference of the state into the issues of market regulation, as seen in the nationalization of some large corporations that have become insolvent, as well as in granting large bailouts to private companies by the state, and etc. It is remarkable that economic community today is re-reading the seemingly forgotten “Capital” by Karl
3
G.Harutyunyan
<21-st CENTURY», №2 (6), 2009
Marx, which has been re-published in some countries in enormous numbers of copies. The current developments result in validating the socialist ideas in countries considered liberal.
Meanwhile, the situation at hand is different from what was going on in the 90s of the last century, when the ideological crisis, being a priority, resulted in a collapse of the Soviet System. In those years an attempt was undertaken to de-legalize the socialist and communist ideas, however, the current ideological re-validations do not assume oblivion of the liberalist classics. For resolving the emerging problems today any ideological-economic models and methods will do, only that they be efficient. In other words, the following famous principle is used: “To resolve problems, all means are good, except the bad ones”.
The resulting formation is a poly-ideological society with differing proportions of socialist, liberal as well as nationalist or civilization-related and conservative ideas1. It is also to be noted that the universal ideologies have also lived through a certain evolution losing previous unambiguous and even dictatorial character of their positions2 (which was particularly relevant to e.g., the totalitarian, communist or the vulgar-liberal concept). Besides, since the 90s, within the context of the so-called postmodernity, there has been a sort of crisscrossing of various ideologies. E.g., in Great Britain the “Neo-laborites” represent the “Liberal-Socialist” movement [3]. The George Bush Jr. Administration employed many important “neoconservatives” whose ideological origins, according to some researchers, showed traces of Trotzky-related approaches, etc. The result is an increased compatibility of diverse outlooks, forming a multi-component, though integrally-oriented ideological dimension3 4. This type of ideological format will augment and make the conceptual resources of society multilateral, eliciting more adequate reactions to challenges and beneficial uses of unfavorable situations. Evidently, a society using such technologies of self-organization, will substantially boost its capabilities in the geopolitical, geo-economic and other domains.
1 It is certainly suggested that these trends thought to be universal include the civilizational featured characteristic for a given society.
2 The term “ideology” introduced into the European tradition by Antoin Destute de Trassi (“Elements of Ideology”, 1801), have been given multiple and often complementary definitions to this day. This situation is complicated with regard to the concepts being modified continually, so that in this presentation the term will be used with regard to the context.
3 Such processes seem to be uncharacteristic for the “post-modernistic” epoch of permissiveness, so they will have to be regarded as application of advanced political technologies.
4
<21-st CENTURY», №2 (6), 2009
G.Harutyunyan
2. Ideology and National Security
Let us make a brief schematic comparison and evaluation of National Security systems1 in some societies, depending on the ideological formations of those societies.
The British and American Technologies. In the context of what has been presented, the most efficient experience may be perhaps that of Great Britain also implemented in other English-speaking countries. Ideological tolerance is inherent in the societies of those countries: the carriers of conservative (national-conservative) and labour (socialist-oriented) ideas have developed mutually complementary mechanisms to carry on joint action on the ideological field (which is known to be close to the Anglo-Saxon mentality). This factor is responsible for the great strategic achievements of the British Empire2 as well as the fact that in the last few hundred years that civilization has managed to retain its status as world leader.
It is remarkable that the US, having borrowed the political logic of the British, because of the singularity of its historical development, ignored the political significance of the left-wing orientation. The resulting extreme cultivation of liberalism and consumerism in the United States generated some serious problems causing this power to lose its positions of the world leader. The emergence of ideological oversights seems to be acknowledged by the American elite, hence the legitimization of socialist postulations and the ideas of deterrence in the American Society (see, e.g., [4]).
Continental Europe. It is remarkable that the Anglo-American ideological tendencies are substantially different from the realities in the European countries. In continental Europe there are traditionally developed universal (liberal and leftist) movements (see, e.g., [5]), however, so far, understandably there are no Europe-wide national-conservative approaches. Moreover, the nationalist parties of European countries often counter the integration projects of the EU. That is a stipulating factor that the EU, having practically an economic potential similar to the US, manifests inadequacy to this potential in the aspect of military power or geopolitical influence.
The Reforms after Deng Sao Ping. Ideologically, a remarkable thing is “the Chinese Miracle”. Only two decades ago China used to be suppressed by the yoke of many different problems. The same situation was in the mono-ideological USSR which collapsed having been unable to react adequalty to challenges. The situation in China changed in the late 20th century through Deng Sao Ping having established
1 In should be borne in mind that this concept includes not only purely defensive functions but the expansionist ones as well.
2 The US is generally assumed to be successor and inheritor of the British Empire.
5
G.Harutyunyan
<21-st CENTURY», №2 (6), 2009
a multi-ideological field, triggering both the socialist1 and national-conservative (Confucian) and liberal concepts. The PRC today is a legitimate contender for global leadership; its rapid empowerment shows efficiency of ideological technologies.
Ideological Revolutions in Russia. Alongside with the carriers of national and liberal ideas, mentality of a great part of the Russian society is close to the socialist ideas (the national-ideological principles of those ideas are assumed to have originated from the traditional structure of the Russian rural community). It is general knowledge that in the Russian reality the ideological antagonisms resulted in revolutions (socialist in 1917 and liberal in 1991), with all ensuing negative consequences and an artificial consolidation of a single viewpoint. As a result, Russia, possessing all necessary premises and ambitions to become the world leader, in the last century many times has appeared in difficult situations. In this regard, the Russian authorities today are trying to combine the different ideological trends. In any case, it has to be stated that the unfavorable ideological situation has had a considerable impact on the development of the Russian-Slavonic world.
Islam and Liberalism. The current general situation in the Islamic world has largely been stipulated by the domination of religious conservatism in the ideological domain. It is remarkable that the countries combining the religious traditionalism (containing, in particular, some ideas on social justice) with the liberal or purely national approaches, have substantially improved their situation within the International Community. Among those states, besides Myanmar and Indonesia, a special focus should fall on Iran, where the radical Islam, the Iranian national-civilization traditions and elements of democratic liberalism has been successfully integrated. As a result, Iran has become a religious leader posing as one of the most dynamic and diversely developing countries on the International scene. It is to be noted that the deficiency in competitive ability of Islamic countries is often thought to be caused by a certain shortage of intellectual resources. Interestingly, Iran has launched a satellite using their own rocket, while in nanotechnology the Iranian scientists occupy the 25th place in citation index (Iran is the sole Islamic country in this domain (see, e.g., [7]). * 6
1 It is to be noted that the basics of the socialist ideology originated not in the 19-20th centuries (as it did in Western Europe and Russia), but rather in the 5th c. B.C. The founder of that doctrine was the philosopher and thinker Mo Tzi (see, e.g., [6]).
6
<21-st CENTURY», №2 (6), 2009
G.Harutyunyan
3. National Ideology and Information Security
It follows from the above that the proportionality of ideological field will stipulate the efficiency of the society’s national strategy. It is quite natural that according to the contemporary ideas of social science, ideology is determined as a “complex of commands providing the most efficient mode and interconnection of processes” к This dynamic wording by Vyacheslav Yanko, will most probably determine the national security as well. That is to say, under the current situation the goals and objectives of National Security and of the integrated ideology compiled by the state and the society, the methods of achieving these goals and resolving these problems, are in actual fact merged in a single entity.
Both in the sphere of ideology and in the sphere of NS the system efficiency will suggest the interconnection of practically all domains of human activity. It is remarkable in this context that Information Security (IS) being the principal component of NS and including the processes of the intellectual and spiritual spheres, is related to the national-conservative ideology, which is part of the generalized ideology of society.
The Uniformity of Information Security and the National-Conservative Ideology. According to the classical formulation embracing the sphere of intellectual-spiritual processes and ideas, the national-conservative ideology is the system of views and national values enclosing the comprehension and estimation of people’s interrelations with each other and with the reality. In turn, ideology can be considered as a factor of reality only in case it becomes a component of public consciousness, which however can be achieved only through information technologies. In other words, the national ideology, if adopted as a necessity, will have to be perceived as a prioritized and basic component of the information field. Hence, the main objectives of the information-psychological (non-technical) security are:
• Implementation of the national-conservative ideology in the domestic information field;
• Protection of the main postulations of this ideology from external and internal distortions;
• Dissemination of ideological concepts within the context of national interests in the external information environment. * 7
1 Янко В.А., http://yanko.lib.ru
7
G.Harutyunyan
<21-st CENTURY», №2 (6), 2009
Thus, if the generalized ideology of society and the generalized postulations of the NS are coincidental, then the national-conservative component of ideology is in turn directly connected with the questions (non-technical) of IS, the functions of these two concepts being coincidental. In other words, these concepts can integrally be defined as a complex of commands providing the most efficient mode and interconnection of information processes.
Inclusion of “critical infrastructures" in the content-oriented segment of IS and the need lor their protection. In some advanced states (particularly in the US) the priority task of the technical segment of information sphere is providing security of information systems for the so-called critical infrastructure: those of control, communication, information, energy and water supplies, police and rescue, financial and other systems. It seems that the similar “critical infrastructures” are characteristic and very important also for the content-oriented, i.e., for the national-conservative segment of ideology: quite naturally, the American experts consider it a crucial task of the NS to protect the national values. Practically that means that the national system of values will have to select and to protect specially those postulations which deformation can result in national loss of morals (demoralization) and paralysis.
Meanwhile, it follows that a full-fledged IS system is impossible without having the ideological postulations. That however does not mean that establishment of the IS system must be done only after the clarification of those postulations. As noted above, the information security is to be actually identified with the national-conservative ideology, while the conceptual developments of the IS will have to facilitate the formation of complex ideological approaches. In particular, the set of IS concepts will have to yield the postulations having a critically important significance.
July, 2009
Reference Sources and Literature
1. Вахинский О., Homo economicus должен умереть, Эксперт, #17-18, с. 56, 2009.
2. Գագիկ Տեր-Հարություեյաե, Բազմագաղափարախոսակաև հանրությունների ձևավորումը, Հանրապետական, #11, էջ 1, 2008.
3. Громыко А, Конец идеологии или контуры новой «большой идеи»? http:// www.ieras.ru/gromyko_ar5.htm; Громыко А. «Третий путь» - что дальше? Современ- 8
8
<21-st CENTURY», №2 (6), 2009
G.Harutyunyan
ная Европа, выпуск 2, 2006, с. 62; Носов М.Г. Глобальные аспекты трансатлантических отношений, Современная Европа, выпуск 2, 2006,с. 31.
4. Фримен Ч, Быть скромнее, Россия в глобальной политике, т.7,#2, с. 60,2009.
5. Кагарлицкий Б., Политология революции, Москва, Алгоритм, 2007.
6. Титаренко МП, Древнекитайский философ Мо-Ди, его школа и учение. Изд-во «Наука», М., 1985.
7. Шварц Е, Иранский парадокс. Станет ли Исламская Республика сильным игроком XXI века? Политический класс, #52, 2009. 9
9
