Hybrid warfare: minding the conceptual GAP

This article addresses a series of difficulties raised by the concept of hybrid warfare. The central tenet is to demonstrate that hybrid warfare as an expression has less academic than political validity. In other words, it is more often used as a normative denunciation for Russian actions than as a term grasping the relevant experience of contemporary warfare. The article sets out to demonstrate that hybrid warfare as set out by Russia should rather be understood as a tool of integral statecraft. The article outlines the main determinants of Russian security policy and puts hybrid warfare into perspective with the main technological disruptors affect the nature of contemporary warfare. The article finally advocates for a clearer division of work between NATO and the EU in countering hybrid threats.