OPERATIONAL IMPLICATIONS AND EFFECTS OF INFORMATIONAL AND POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF WESTERN HYBRID WARFARE

Abstract

Aim. This paper critically examines these political and informational aspects of hybrid as used and defined in the West.Methodology. The paper applied critical discourse analysis to the collected research materials. In this manner, the power relations and dynamics are revealed more clearly for the reader.Results. It reveals that Western hybrid warfare consists of constraining the strengths and opportunities of other targeted powers while minimising their own weaknesses and threats within the context of the decline of the US-led Western global hegemony.Research implications. Hybrid warfare is a very commonly heard, used and abused concept in the 21st century. On the one hand, it is subjectively used as a concept of non-conventional warfare, often in the context of what the hostile and ‘aggressive other’ inflicts upon a ‘defensive us.’ It is also at times an accusation used against a foreign policy opponent or competitor as a means of constraining their operational choices.

Keywords

• hybrid warfare
• information realm
• physical realm
• cognitive realm
• obstructive foreign policy
• perception