Hybrid war: the nature and structure of the phenomenon

Abstract

It is noted that aggression from the Russian Federation has become a significant surprise for Ukrainian society. The current Russian-Ukrainian conflict has the official status of the ATO, but unfortunately, this is the only opportunity to characterize the modernized armed confrontation «hybrid war» at the legal level.

Analyzing the degree of scientific development of research problems, the author states that in general in political science there is not enough understanding of the concept of «hybrid war».

Applying systemic and historical approaches to the analysis of the concept of «hybrid war», the author emphasizes the need for an integrated approach to the study of this phenomenon. The author notes that to resolve conflict issues or to meet geopolitical interests, to speak openly to the state (especially the aggressor) has become quite economically unprofitable and politically dangerous. Therefore, it is not surprising that at the end of the XX century humanity faced with a new way of conducting armed conflicts, which was unofficially called «hybrid». This term explains a new military strategy that combines «ordinary war», «small war» and «cyber war», and serves to combine actions with the involvement of nuclear, biological, chemical weapons of improvised explosive devices and means of information war. Unfortunately, the lack of secure and a clear definition of this concept at the international level complicates the problem of counteracting such a phenomenon as a «hybrid war».

Using modern approaches to the study of the phenomenon of «hybrid war», the author interprets this phenomenon as a set of actions prepared in advance and operatively implementing the state’s military, diplomatic and information activities aimed at achieving strategic goals. At the same time, the absence of the need to develop new systems of weapons and military equipment is very important. Hybrid war includes the implementation of a complex of hybrid threats of various types, namely: traditional, non-standard, large-scale terrorism, and subversive actions during which innovative technologies are used to counter the enemy’s military strength, such as massive cyber-attacks, subversive actions in the energy and economic spheres and so far.

The author notes that the difference between classical wars and hybrid ones is not only in the way it is conducted, but also in the means and purposes pursued by the aggressor, since the purpose of the «hybrid war» is not so much the control of the territory, as the economic and political destabilization of the state in general, living outside the immediate conflict. The destabilization of the country in all the above-mentioned aspects is possible due to terrorist and sabotage acts, active propaganda among the local population, full-scale military operations in a certain territory of the country, and the final goal is to induce the legal government of the country in favor of the aggressor, or at all to change it. All the above-mentioned stages of preparation and implementation of military operations are impossible without the participation of mass media, it is directly a technological tool for organizing and conducting «hybrid wars».