Hybrid Warfare: Security and Asymmetric Conflict in International Relations, Mikael Weissmann, Niklas Nilsson, Björn Palmertz and Per Thunholm

Abstract

In recent years, hybrid threats and warfare have increased the grey zone of war and peace. the security challenges arising from such threats are high on the global security agenda. The book “Hybrid Warfare: Security and Asymmetric Conflict in International Relations,” edited by Weissmann et al., attempts to identify the existing tools for countering hybrid threats by providing the analysis of both practitioners and scholars. It comprises seventeen chapters. Apart from an introductory chapter, the book has four parts: the view of practitioners, tools and means, cases, and conclusions. Moreover, it focuses on the challenges posed by hybrid threats and warfare to the Western world and highlights their ability to deal with them.

The authors argue in the introductory chapter that hybrid threats and warfare are overlapping concepts. Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and non-state actors such as ISIS and Hezbollah are considered challengers to the global hegemony of the West. The West is countering the challenges of hybrid warfare and identifying and addressing its vulnerabilities.