Hybrid Warfare and the Changing Character of Conflict
by
Bastian Giegerich

The idea that international conflict might be seeing more hybrid warfare and hybrid threats has animated debate among security and defense establishments in the run-up to NATO’s 2016 Warsaw Summit. While the Alliance has located the issue of hybrid war in the specific context of the Russia/Ukraine crisis and in 2014 triggered efforts to prepare NATO to effectively meet hybrid warfare threats, the scope of the challenge is much wider and the core dynamics are often located outside of the military realm. The article reviews the recent conceptual debates about hybrid warfare, suggesting that hybrid conflicts defy our attempts to press them into known categories and locate them clearly on a spectrum of war and peace. NATO Member States will have to invest in resilience and conventional deterrence to counter hybrid threats.

Previous Issue

The Fall 2016 issue of Connections is dedicated to the NATO Summit that took place in Warsaw, Poland in July 2016. During the Summit, heads of state and government of allied and partner countries discussed key security challenges. This journal issue takes a deep look into two key themes - assuring the security of the Alliance in view of the hybrid ... Read More