SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS OF THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF UKRAINE’S STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS UNDER CONDITIONS OF HYBRID WARFARE

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the systemic problems of the institutionalization of strategic communications in the context of ensuring the state’s information security under conditions of hybrid warfare. It is substantiated that the formation of the StratCom system in Ukraine during 2014–2024 has not followed a classical evolutionary model, but rather a reactive-adaptive transformation directly conditioned by military and security challenges.
It is determined that, under contemporary conditions, strategic communications acquire the status of a functional element of national security and transform into a mechanism for managing strategic narratives, public trust, and the information resilience of the state. It is demonstrated that one of the key problems in the institutionalization of StratCom is institutional fragmentation, manifested in insufficient coordination among actors of state communication policy, the absence of a unified strategic framework, and communication desynchronization.
The study analyzes the regulatory and legal uncertainty of strategic communications as well as the conceptual diffusion of the notion of StratCom within the domestic political and legal space. It is established that the vagueness of the conceptual apparatus complicates the practical implementation of strategic communications and the formation of a coherent state communication policy.
The influence of digitalization, the algorithmization of the information environment, audience fragmentation, and systemic disinformation on the transformation of contemporary strategic communications is examined. It is substantiated that information confrontation is increasingly shifting into the cognitive sphere, where the struggle for the interpretation of events and public trust becomes comparable to military confrontation.
Particular attention is devoted to the problems of the reactive nature of state communication policy, the shortage of qualified personnel and expert capacity, as well as the contradiction between the security needs of the state and the democratic principles governing the functioning of the information space. The article concludes by emphasizing the necessity of transitioning from a crisis-reactive to a systemic-proactive model of strategic communications based on strategic coherence, interinstitutional coordination, regulatory certainty, and the adaptation of StratCom to contemporary cognitive and informational challenges.