COGNITIVE RESILIENCE AS A NEW DIMENSION OF EUROPEAN UNION SECURITY: CONCEPTUAL DELIMITATIONS AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS

Abstract

The paper advances the central argument that cognitive resilience has emerged as a distinct analytical and operational category within contemporary European Union security studies. While related to psychological, societal, and informational resilience, cognitive resilience is conceptualised here as a multidimensional capacity aimed at preserving the integrity, adaptability, and coherence of cognitive processes under conditions of manipulation, disinformation, and epistemic destabilisation. Methodologically, the study employs a qualitative, theory-building research design, combining conceptual analysis, systematic review of academic literature and EU strategic documents, and theoretical meta-synthesis across security studies, cognitive warfare doctrine, and cognitive psychology. This interdisciplinary approach enables the clarification of conceptual boundaries and the integration of diverse theoretical perspectives into a coherent analytical framework. The findings demonstrate that cognitive resilience constitutes a necessary extension of the resilience paradigm, addressing a critical gap in both academic literature and EU policy frameworks. Existing approaches remain predominantly focused on regulating information flows and mitigating external threats, while insufficiently addressing the internal cognitive mechanisms that enable manipulation to be effective. In response, the paper proposes an operational definition of cognitive resilience and identifies its core dimensions, cognitive filtering capacity, interpretative coherence, adaptive flexibility, and epistemic trust, thus enabling future empirical measurement and comparative research. The study concludes that the integration of cognitive resilience fundamentally expands the security paradigm, repositioning cognition as a central strategic domain and cognitive autonomy as a key determinant of democratic stability. As such, cognitive resilience emerges not merely as a complementary concept, but as a strategic capability essential for the EU’s capacity to withstand and adapt to the challenges of contemporary cognitive warfare.