Deterrence Through Resilience and Civil Preparedness: The Comprehensive and Militarised Models of Civil Defence

As hybrid threats blur the line between war and peace and challenge conventional deterrence logics, states increasingly turn to concepts of resilience, civil preparedness and whole‐of‐society as elements of their security strategies. This raises the question of how civilian agency can be viewed as an element of deterrence and what the consequences of different policy choices are in that regard. Building on a comparative analysis of Finland and Poland, two frontline states sharing geopolitical position and threat perception of Russia, this article discusses different approaches to civilian involvement in security. Drawing on policy frame analysis, the article examines how civilians are rhetorically framed in national strategic documents and how these frames are translated into action through laws, institutions and programmes. Building on the distinction between combatant and active non‐combatant roles of a society, the analysis shows how each role contributes differently to deterrence by denial, by respectively strengthening its conventional, militarised dimension or by denying hybrid pressures. By linking civilian agency to contemporary deterrence debates, the article advances a more nuanced understanding of whole‐of‐society security in the context of hybrid warfare.