Hybrid Age

Humankind has always sought out innovative and new ways of waging war, establishing new forms of warfare. Set against a background of global strategic instability this process of innovation has, over the last two decades, produced a new and complex phenomenon, hybrid warfare. Distinct from other forms of modern warfare in several key aspects, it presents a unique challenge that appears to baffle policymakers and security experts, while giving the actors that employ it a new way of achieving their goals in the face of long-standing Western conventional, doctrinal, and strategic superiority. The Hybrid Age analyses the phenomenon of hybrid warfare through theoretical frameworks and a range global case studies from the 2006 Lebanon War to the Russian intervention in Ukraine in 2014. This book aims to establish a unified theory of hybrid warfare, which not only outlines what the term means, but also places it in its context, and provides the tools which enable an observer to identify and react to a future instance of hybrid warfare.

The Hybrid Age brings rigor to the debate over what hybrid warfare is and how states and state-like actors use it to attain their security goals. Its detailed and somewhat provocative analysis of hybrid warfare in Lebanon, Ukraine, and the South China Sea is a welcome addition to the literature on warfare in the 21st century.

Brin Najžer holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Aberdeen. His research interests focus on grand strategy, military history, strategic studies, European security, and hybrid warfare.