A Crash Course on Hybrid Warfare
Contemporary wars are different from the ones we witnessed in the preceding centuries. The fundamental characteristics and conducts of armed conflicts have entered a new paradigm in which the state is not the only target of warfare. Instead, we have been witnessing a process of power diffusion in which non-state actors entered the stage of both politics and warfare. However, not only stakeholders of wars have become more diverse, so have the means they are fighting with: a range of different instruments are deployed – including cyber capabilities, economic sanctions, information dominance – by an orchestra of state, individual and private entities.
The ‘Crash Course on Hybrid Warfare’ conference, organized by JASON Institute for Peace & Security Studies on the 30rd of November, aimed to reflect upon the changing dimension of warfare, shedding light on the nature of new wars and the new frameworks that seem to have replaced the old Clausewitzian definition of warfare. Has cyber become the fifth domain of war? And does a cyber attack in fact constitute an act of war or an act of crime? What is disinformation and how is it utilized by different players? All these questions are answered in three short, but very insightful articles.