Aspects of Participation of the Civil Society in Maintaining National Security and Defense

The article reflects the aspects of civil society participation in ensuring national security and defense in times of crisis in a complex and dynamic environment.The Clausewitz's concept of interaction between the government, the armed forces and the population in contemporary conditions is revised.It is determined that in times of crisis, there is a need for more active involvement of civil society in the full cycle of development of the state as a certain social system with the help of public administration instruments.Civilian control under the security sector with the participation of civil society should fully include assistance in the development and refinement of the national security and defense strategy, its effective implementation and monitoring of the results of its implementation.Participation of civil society through public administration institutions in the development of the social system helps to implement changes and adapt it to the new environment.It also helps to reconsider the goals, identify acceptable means and ways to balance them with risk in development and implementation of national security and defense strategy and plans.It is established that, depending on the state of the social system and the environment, civic considerations serve as a certain indicator of the use of instruments of state power, which makes the process of ensuring national security and defense flexible and natural.Considering the state as an open system, it is determined that the state authorities provide convergent thinking that should close the system in time to the extent necessary to protect it from undesirable influences and direct it to achieve the established goals, while civil society generates divergent thinking to open the system for adaptation in order to maintain its functionality and competitiveness in changing conditions.Effective cooperation between the state authorities and civil society should be based on the concept of "whole of government."