During the last decade, 'Hybrid Warfare' has become a novel yet controversial term in academic, political and professional military lexicons, intended to suggest some sort of mix between different military and non-military means and methods of confrontation. Enthusiastic discussion of the notion has been undermined by conceptual vagueness and political manipulation, particularly since the onset of the Ukrainian Crisis in early 2014, as ideas about Hybrid Warfare engulf Russia and the West, especially in the media. Western defense and political specialists analyzing Russian responses to the crisis have been quick to confirm that Hybrid Warfare is the Kremlin's main strategy in the twenty-first century. But many respected Russian strategists and political observers contend that it is the West that has been waging Hybrid War, Gibridnaya Voyna, since the end of the Cold War. In this highly topical book, Ofer Fridman offers a clear delineation of the conceptual debates about Hybrid Warfare. What leads Russian experts to say that the West is conducting a Gibridnaya Voyna against Russia, and what do they mean by it? Why do Western observers claim that the Kremlin engages in Hybrid Warfare? And, beyond terminology, is this something genuinely new?

Hybrid warfare has been an integral part of the historical landscape since the ancient world, but only recently have analysts - incorrectly - categorised these conflicts as unique. Great powers throughout history have confronted opponents who used a combination of regular and irregular forces to negate the advantage of the great powers' superior conventional military strength. As this study shows, hybrid wars are labour-intensive and long-term affairs; they are difficult struggles that defy the domestic logic of opinion polls and election cycles. Hybrid wars are also the most likely conflicts of the twenty-first century, as competitors use hybrid forces to wear down America's military capabilities in extended campaigns of exhaustion. Nine historical examples of hybrid warfare, from ancient Rome to the modern world, provide readers with context by clarifying the various aspects of conflicts and examining how great powers have dealt with them in the past.

Hybrid warfare is becoming a long-term strategic challenge for NATO and the EU. This book examines its conceptual foundations, actors and technologies from a holistic, systemic perspective. In particular, new, disruptive technologies have a catalytic effect on hybrid methods and tools. 19 Technologies prove to be particularly relevant. They improve the initial conditions for hybrid action, expand the arsenal of hybrid actors and improve the scope and prospects for success of their activities.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Hybrid Warfare refers to a military strategy that blends conventional warfare, so-called 'irregular warfare' and cyber-attacks with other influencing methods, such as fake news, diplomacy and foreign political intervention. As Hybrid Warfare becomes increasingly commonplace, there is an imminent need for research bringing attention to how these challenges can be addressed in order to develop a comprehensive approach towards Hybrid Threats and Hybrid Warfare. This volume supports the development of such an approach by bringing together practitioners and scholarly perspectives on the topic and by covering the threats themselves, as well as the tools and means to counter them, together with a number of real-world case studies. The book covers numerous aspects of current Hybrid Warfare discourses including a discussion of the perspectives of key western actors such as NATO, the US and the EU; an analysis of Russia and China's Hybrid Warfare capabilities; and the growing threat of cyberwarfare. A range of global case studies - featuring specific examples from the Baltics, Taiwan, Ukraine, Iran and Catalonia - are drawn upon to demonstrate the employment of Hybrid Warfare tactics and how they have been countered in practice. Finally, the editors propose a new method through which to understand the dynamics of Hybrid Threats, Warfare and their countermeasures, termed the 'Hybridity Blizzard Model'. With a focus on practitioner insight and practicable International Relations theory, this volume is an essential guide to identifying, analysing and countering Hybrid Threats and Warfare.

Hybrid conflicts are characterized by multi-layered efforts to undermine the functioning of the State or polarize society. This book presents results, recommendations and best practices from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) "Critical Infrastructure Protection Against Hybrid Warfare Security Related Challenges", held in Stockholm, Sweden, in May 2016. The main objective of this workshop was to help and support NATO in the field of hybrid conflicts by developing a set of tools to deter and defend against adversaries mounting a hybrid offensive. Addressing the current state of critical infrastructure protection (CIP) and the challenges evolving in the region due to non-traditional threats which often transcend national borders – such as cyber attacks, terrorism, and attacks on energy supply – the widely ranging group of international experts who convened for this workshop provided solutions from a number of perspectives to counter the new and emerging challenges affecting the security of modern infrastructure. Opportunities for public-private partnerships in NATO member and partner countries were also identified. The book provides a highly topical resource which identifies common solutions for combating major hazards and challenges – namely cyber attacks, terrorist attacks on energy supply, man-made disasters, information warfare and maritime security risks – and will be of interest to all those striving to maintain stability and avoid adverse effects on the safety and well-being of society.

Western academics, politicians, and military leaders alike have labelled Russia's actions in Crimea and its follow-on operations in Eastern Ukraine as a new form of “Hybrid Warfare.” In this book, Kent DeBenedictis argues that, despite these claims, the 2014 Crimean operation is more accurately to be seen as the Russian Federation's modern application of historic Soviet political warfare practices-the overt and covert informational, political, and military tools used to influence the actions of foreign governments and foreign populations. DeBenedictis links the use of Soviet practices, such as the use of propaganda, disinformation, front organizations, and forged political processes, in the Crimea in 2014 to the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 (the “Prague Spring”) and the earliest stages of the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Through an in-depth case study analysis of these conflicts, featuring original interviews, government documents and Russian and Ukrainian sources, this book demonstrates that the operation, which inspired discussions about Russian “Hybrid Warfare,” is in fact the modern adaptation of Soviet political warfare tools and not the invention of a new type of warfare.

The Ukrainian conflict has come to be considered as the most serious geopolitical crisis in Central and Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. Its implications extend well beyond the borders of Ukraine, and its impact on the security of the wider Black Sea region is, as yet, neither contained nor fully understood.This book contains 28 articles on the topic of hybrid warfare and related threats, delivered at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) 'Countering Hybrid Threats: Lessons Learned from Ukraine', held in Bucharest, Romania, in September 2015. This event brought together 50 experts from different fields and perspectives, including policymakers, security and intelligence practitioners, and academics. The presentations explored the nature of the Ukrainian conflict and the dynamic evolution of current security threats in Central and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region with the aim of identifying the key drivers of the conflict and exploring the most efficient instruments and methods for conflict resolution. The book is divided into four sections entitled: challenges of hybrid warfare: multiple perspectives; hybrid war - an old concept with an extensive dimension; counteracting hybrid threats: lessons learned from Ukraine; and finally, the implications of the Ukrainian conflict for regional and Euro-Atlantic security.The book provides a timely reflection on recent events and will be of interest to all those wishing to improve their understanding of hybrid warfare and conflict resolution.