Beneath the Surface : Spontaneous Volunteering and Its Perceived Role in Shaping Community Resilience in National Defence

Abstract

Spontaneous volunteering has become increasingly visible in the context of national defence, particularly following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This article examines the phenomenon in the Finnish context, integrating perspectives on spontaneous volunteering, community resilience, and the whole-of-society approach to defence. Community resilience provides a valuable analytical lens for understanding how spontaneous, informal grassroots civic engagement can contribute to societal functioning and adaptability in the face of national security threats. The analysis draws on 17 semi-structured interviews with representatives of the official system and spontaneous volunteers in Finland, applying the framework developed by Kruse et al. (2017), which conceptualizes community resilience through three interrelated domains: resources and capacities, actions, and learning. The findings indicate that spontaneous volunteering is perceived to contribute to community resilience, both directly and indirectly, through actions related to both social protection – supporting civilian life and humanitarian relief – and civil protection, including preparedness building, military logistics, situational awareness, and even frontline engagement. These activities are underpinned by various resources and capacities, particularly socio-political and human ones, alongside digital infrastructures. The learning domain highlights the risks, tensions, and ethical dilemmas associated with spontaneous volunteering, such as the blurring of civilian–military boundaries and the fragility of trust between formal institutions and informal civic actors. Within Finland’s Comprehensive Security Model, spontaneous volunteering emerges not as a marginal anomaly but as a latent civic capacity, embedded in society, lying “beneath the surface” in peacetime, yet potentially pivotal in times of crisis.