Societal resilience and total defence in the digital age: the cognitive dimension of disinformation and its implications for the national security of Serbia

This paper examines the cognitive dimension of disinformation and its implications for the national security of Serbia within the broader topic of societal resilience and total defence in the digital age. Under conditions of heightened hybrid threats and the strategic use of disinformation as a means of political and security pressure, the paper argues that enhancing cognitive resilience represents a crucial prerequisite for the effective implementation of the concept of total defence. The research is based on three complementary theoretical frameworks—social constructivism, network society theory and securitization theory. The empirical part of this study is based on research conducted among a sample of 202 adult respondents from Serbia using the Online Misinformation Susceptibility Scale (OMISS) and Perceived Media Information Environment Questionnaire (PMIEQ), which was specifically designed for this study. The results indicate that most respondents demonstrate a high level of susceptibility to online disinformation and uncritical acceptance of online content as a prevalent behavioral tendency. Moreover, the respondents perceive the media landscape in Serbia as an arena of competing external influences, identifying Russia and China as the most prominent foreign actors, while expressing a strong need for an institutional government response to the spread of disinformation. The concluding part of the paper presents recommendations aimed at enhancing cognitive resilience, which is considered a functional component of total defence and national security in the digital age.