Title: Understanding hybrid warfare
Subtitle: great power competition and conflict in the new era
Description: Understanding Hybrid Warfare examines how modern great powers employ hybrid strategies that blend conventional military force with irregular tactics, cyber operations, disinformation, and economic pressure. Drawing on case studies such as Russia’s actions in Crimea, ISIL’s exploitation of vulnerabilities, and cyberattacks in Estonia, the book explores the changing character of war and the blurred boundaries between peace and conflict. It provides a framework for recognizing hybrid threats, analyzes their impact on global security, and offers recommendations for how Western governments and militaries can adapt doctrine, policy, and force structure to meet the challenges of this new era of competition.
Subjects: Hybrid warfare, Great power competition, Irregular warfare, Cyber operations, Information warfare, Russia – Crimea, ISIL – Middle East, NATO doctrine, Security strategy, Counter-disinformation Changing character of war, Western responses to hybrid threats
Places: Estonia – cyberattacks (2007)Crimea, Ukraine – Russian “little green men” (2014)Syria – hybrid tactics in civil warSouth China Sea – Chinese maritime coercionMiddle East (Iraq/Syria) – ISIL operations
People: Individuals: Vladimir Putin, ISIL leadersGroups: Russian “little green men, ” ISIL, NATO, Chinese maritime militia
Time periods: Understanding Hybrid Warfare: Great Power Competition and Conflict in the New Era is set in and about the early 21st century, focusing on conflicts and strategic competition from roughly 2007 through the mid 2020s. It is written to lay the foundation for conflict over the next 30 years.