The Vulnerability of High-Trust Societies
Europe’s security environment is increasingly shaped by sustained low-threshold pressure that exploits societal, informational, and institutional vulnerabilities rather than military force alone. Using Finland as a leading case, this analysis shows how declining institutional trust is emerging as a concrete security risk within high-trust Nordic systems built on voluntary compliance and coordination. Erosion in trust amplifies the impact of hybrid activity, persistent ambiguity, and low-cost asymmetric tactics, such as drone incursions near critical infrastructure, by slowing alignment, increasing coordination costs, and widening space for hostile narratives. The core finding is clear: in a contested security environment, institutional trust functions as a strategic enabler comparable to critical infrastructure, and its gradual erosion narrows margins for decisive action. Sustaining psychological resilience and legitimacy is therefore not a societal concern but a security imperative for Nordic states operating under continuous pressure.