Today’s view on an ever-changing world brings new phenomena and consequently new concepts. Hybrid warfare is one relatively new concept, about which today’s scientists have a fragmented view, and this makes it a subject of research interest. By examining seven scientific articles about Hybrid Warfare from 2007 up to the present day, the aim of this study was to examine how the concept could be defined in today’s science, and in doing so, also increase the understanding of Hybrid Warfare. The research design is that of a concept analysis, using John Gerring’s Good Concepts theory as a model. The result of the analysis showed that a majority of researchers defined the concept as, at least, a mixture of conventional and irregular aspects of warfare and of terrorism, criminality and cyber warfare. However, the research also confirms that the concept is disputed. The study contributes to existing research by showing how a concept analysis model could be used to investigate contested concepts. It also strengthens the thesis that hybrid warfare lacks a universal definition.

Russian warfare is one of the most currently debated topics between military experts. Some define it as something wholly new and name it hybrid warfare. Others say that hybrid warfare is nothing but an old method brought back to life. Some experts also argue that any nation at war will use any method to win, regardless of being a defender or aggressor. One thing, however, binds these experts together—the will to understand Russian warfare.  Hybrid warfare uses both state and non-state actors together to achieve a common goal. Because of mixing these actors, it becomes hard to define further. Because of that, experts still struggle to understand Russian warfare and the use of hybrid warfare. Thus allowing Russia to continue to act within the grey area between a state of neither peace nor war.  By analysing Russia’s intervention in the ongoing conflict in Syria with Lewickis military and non-military dimensions. This study shows that Russian warfare and its actions in Syria are based more on international reputation. When there is a risk for tarnished reputation, they act through non-state actors. When there is a chance for improved reputation, they act through state actors. This study also shows that there are fundamental differences in what Russia does officially and unofficially, which is also based on international reputation.

The research paper examines the relation between theoretical descriptions of hybrid warfare and national observation of the phenomena in the Baltic countries. The study is based on the research problem that there is no coherent definition and scholarly debate about the nature of hybrid warfare. By comparing theoretical hybrid components with threats in the national security- and defence concepts of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the study aims to determine whether the theories accurately reflect empirical perception. The theoretical framework was based on 3 theories of hybrid warfare, which describes both military and non-military aspects of hybrid threats. The research study is that of a comparative case study. The security- and defence concepts is studied through the method of qualitative text analysis. The results of the study show that several of the hybrid components is described and is seen as a threat in the cases. However, the results were impaired, mainly due to temporal difference between studied texts, incoherent definitions of central concepts and lacking distinctions between internal and external influences in text and theory. The analysis concludesthat a continued focus on the inclusion of non-military means is relevant in studies about hybrid warfare and contemporary conflict.

Hybrid warfare is a phenomenon that have gained an ever increasingly amount of attention in the aftermath of the events in Ukraine 2014. A war broke out between on one hand Ukraine and the other hand an opponent who seems to be composed of so called “little green men”. The war has been waged with methods that has reached beyond the conventional way of waging. And while there are many discussions amongst the cadets at the Swedish Military Academy concerning what exactly hybrid warfare is, not much have been said about what to do about it.  The following essay will address hybrid warfare and defence against hybrid warfare and with the help of a theoretical framework based upon military science investigate how Sweden responds to the threats connected to hybrid warfare on a strategic level.  The result of the research done will show how Swedish strategic doctrines identifies the threats of hybrid warfare and suggests a holistic approach in both how to deny the opponent the opportunity to use hybrid warfare and how to counter hybrid threats.

Hybrid warfare has experienced a considerable scientific boost and is today seen by many research-ers as the primary threat to peace and security in the world. The scientific community agrees that hybrid warfare brings with it serious threats, hence the need for new and improved security policy efforts. Very little effort has been made to examine the view of the security policy actors though, with the risk being that future security policy and strategy will be misdirected.The purpose of this study is therefore to examine if a joint understanding between the scientific view on hybrid warfare and the security policy actors view on the 21st century threats exists by ana-lysing strategic and political decision-making documents. The research design is that of a qualita-tive case study using two cases, Switzerland and Sweden.The result shows that even though a joint understanding in many respects do exist, there are con-siderable discrepancies between the two approaches. Although these are few, it turns out that these not only have serious consequences for the correlation, but also for the war science discipline and for the security policy actors.

There has been a lot of studies on Hybrid Warfare. The purpose of these studies has been to define Hybrid Warfare, or to see if a war could be called Hybrid or not. One thing that has been missing, is a study on what the advantages of using Hybrid Warfare could be. The aim of this study is to examine the advantages of using Hybrid Warfare. To make this possible, we must assume that the actor is Hybrid, and then examine how they could benefit from it. This study uses Frank G. Hoffman’s theory and definition of Hybrid Warfare.   The research design will be a case study, where the Norwegian resistance and the Allied forces are a hybrid actor. By using a qualitative method, the benefits of Hybrid Warfare in different operations can be analysed and discussed.   The advantage for an actor to utilize hybrid warfare is that it has a wider range of methods to choose from. The actor still utilizes the benefits of combined weapons and various methods of intelligence acquisition. But at the same time, it can carry out irregular actions without the moral limitations which conventional warfare entails.

Nya säkerhetshot, s.k. hybridhot har vuxit fram som en hotbild mot demokratiska stater med öppna samhällen. Dessa hot kan realiseras i det strategiskt otydliga läge som uppstår i gråzonen mellan fred och krig. Stormakter, bl.a. Ryssland, utnyttjar gråzonen och opererar med hybrida medel och kombinerade metoder för att nå sina strategiska målsättningar. Ukraina och Sverige har drabbats med olika intensitet och omfattning av dessa nya säkerhetshot och de båda staternas strategier ligger till grund för analysen i denna studie. För de stater som upplever hybridhot uppstår svårigheter att agera strategiskt avskräckande. Detta beror på att majoriteten av all forskning om avskräckning har bortsett från gråzonen och skapat teorier om avskräckning som utgår från ett rationellt synsätt på krig och fred där gråskalan saknas. Detta innebär att avskräckningsstrategier kan vara felaktigt utformade för att möta hybridhot och gråzonsproblem. Denna studie fokuserar på gråzonsavskräckning ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv och studerar, genom en tematisk analys av strategiska styrdokument hur Ukrainas och Sveriges strategier omhändertar nya säkerhetshot. Resultatet visar att olika strategier verkar på olika sätt i gråzonen och denna kvalitativa studie bidrar till att öka den teoretiska kunskapen om gråzonsavskräckning och bidrar till utvecklingen av strategiska koncept för att verka avskräckande även mot hybridhot i gråzonen, s.k. gråzonsavskräckning.

In 2007 Frank G. Hoffman conducted a study on the new threats that the U.S. Marines could face in the near future. The study resulted in the creation of the hybrid warfare theory.     During the Russian invasion of the Crimea peninsula both media and scholars quickly concluded that the Russian way of conducting the invasion was a new way of warfare and attributed the invasion as hybrid warfare. However, scholars have since then started to criticize the concept of hybrid warfare and its ability to explain the Russian behavior in Crimea and its claim to be a new way of warfare. The purpose of this essay is to examen how new the concept of hybrid warfare is. This is done by examining if Operation Overlord and the Têt Offensive can be understood as hybrid warfare.  The result shows that both Operation Overlord and the Têt Offensive includes most of the attribute in Hoffman´s hybrid warfare theory and therefore can be understood as hybrid warfare. The result also shows that even if the term hybrid warfare is something new the means and methods are not.

Totalförsvaret i Sverige är under återuppbyggnad efter att det globala säkerhetsläget präglats av en tids instabilitet och det säkerhetspolitiska läget i landets närområde försämrats. Hybrida hot riktas mot Sverige redan idag vilket också ställer högre krav på totalförsvaret som samordnat ska kunna hantera hot och andra utmaningar på hela konfliktskalan, från fred till krig. Totalförsvaret utgår från krig och väpnat angrepp i sin planläggning för att klara av en omställning till krigsförhållanden. Samtidigt ska den gemensamma kraften av det militära och civila försvaret som bildar totalförsvaret kunna möta hybrida hot utan att regeringen beslutat om höjd beredskap. Uppsatsen undersöker genom en fallstudie, totalförsvarets förutsättningar till gemensam ledningsförmåga för att möta hybrida hot. Uppsatsen använder sig av Försvarsmakten och MSB som varsin analysenhet för att representera det militära och civila försvaret. Resultat visar att den svenska författningsmodellen står sig stark som grund för totalförsvaret. Ansvaret för totalförsvaret vilar på respektive myndighet och myndighetschef vilket medför att det prioriteras olika. Kriget i Ukraina under våren 2022 har satt ansvars- och pliktkänslan för totalförsvaret i ett helt annat ljus och utvecklingen har intensifierats. Det råder stor samsyn kring att totalförsvarets resurser ska användas genom hela konfliktskalan för att aktivt kunna agera innan höjd beredskap och möjliggöra en sömlös övergång till krig. Det råder dock diskrepans om totalförsvaret ska dimensioneras för krig och genom det vara starka i krisen eller om den goda krisberedskapen ska växa in i totalförsvaret. Uppsatsens utgångspunkt för gemensam ledningsförmåga använder en anpassad modell för optimal ledning med elementen mandat, ansvar och operationsförståelse.

Hezbollahs success during the second Lebanon war in 2006 caused a great stirr through the field of military theorists and analysts. The organization was by most numericals clearly out-gunned and out-numbered compared to the combat-experienced Israel defense forces. The Lebanese forces however managed to not only stifle the Israeli offensive actions but held their ground through the 34 days long war resulting in a stalemate and a United Nations resolution. Theories have evolved from or in ways of explaining this puzzling case. Dual approaches have been identified as some theorize that hybrid warfare is a completely new phenomenon where others state it’s a flavor of the month expression for the same old tactics seen many times before. This study seeks to further explore the complex nature of irregular conflicts and find whether a new theory of hybrid warfare ’Unrestricted warfare’ or a senior compendium’On guerrilla warfare’ best can explain this.The findings of this study concludes that neither theory can be out-ruled and opens for further research within the the second Lebanon war as well as on the theories ’On guerrilla warfare’ and ’Unrestricted warfare’.