Det sägs att militära medel och motmedel ständigt utvecklas inom området krigföring. Samma resonemang gäller även för synen på konflikter och hur användandet av militär och icke-militär makt kan utvecklas och effektiviseras för att påverka en motståndare. Dagens krigföring har utvecklats till konflikter där gränsdragningen mellan krig och fred skyms i ett dunkel och problemet uppstår då vi varken vet eller förstår att vi blir utsatta för en krigshandling. Syftet med den här uppsatsens är att undersöka och skapa en djupare förståelse för begreppet New Generation Warfare, (NGW) vilket utgör ett nytt sätt att förstå modern krigföring som icke-linjär och asymmetrisk, samt hur den krigföringen kan påverka ett modernt och öppet samhälle. Med den djupare förståelsen för NGW analyseras Försvarsmaktens tre senaste perspektivstudier för att klargöra i vilken utsträckning den förståelsen kan återfinnas i studiens analyser och framtidssyn. Resultatet visar att perspektivstudierna till en viss grad uppvisar en förståelse för NGW och att den förståelsen även har utvecklats över tid. Resultatet visar även på att det saknas en djupare förståelse för den moderna icke-linjära och asymmetriska krigföringen som i huvudsak riktar in sig på motståndarens situationsuppfattning och lägesbild i syfte att sabotera, förvirra och vilseleda.

The wars in the Middle East (Afghanistan and Iraq) in which the United States has been involved are widely debated and often seen as asymmetrically full-scale wars. What is characteristic of these conflicts are that there is no research to map these conflicts regarding the US application of hybrid warfare. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of US contemporary warfare by consuming the modern theory of New Generation Warfare (NGW) on the conflicts in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. The ambition is, therefore, to consuming the existing theoretical starting point to analyse existing research in the field to contribute to the war science research. The conclusions drawn from this study are that US contemporary warfare is moving in the same direction as Russia. It has shown that US contemporary warfare is a precursor to Russian contemporary warfare, which is characterized by military interventions with special operations forces and fewer conventional forces with great emphasis on psychological and information operations. Based on the analysis of the Middle East conflicts in which the United States has been involved.

Russians actions in Ukraine came as a chock to the west, who have been striving to conceptualize Russian warfare since. This has resulted in several conflicting definitions involving different means and methods. This might be problematic, both for a country and its military, in trying to define and counter the threat of Russian warfare. It might also be problematic for scientific enquiry, since the definitions might become too broad and neglect vital aspects of Russian warfare. This study there-fore compare and test two rivalling theories about Russian warfare, New-Generation Warfare (NGW) and Full-Spectrum Conflict (FSC), by analysing Russia’s actions in the Ukrainian conflict. By doing so it aims to shed light on which of the two theories offers the best approach to analysing the case. The study uses a qualitative text research method to examine secondary sources describing the conflict and transliterations of Putin’s speeches. Several indicators for each theoretical framework are confirmed and made the analysis possible. The results of this analysis show that Russia in Ukraine used their means and methods synchronously rather than applying a diachronic course of action as advocated by NGW. Results therefore suggest that FSC and its mix of means and methods better describes Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Until 2008, almost two decades since the end of the cold war, Russia still retained old Soviet military structures. Steady opposition by the Russian generals against military modernization and reforms was finally broken in relation with the poor performance of Russian forces during the Russia-Georgian war in 2008. The process of modernization commenced in the following years has important security implications for post-Soviet countries. We could observe the new abilities of the Russian military during the seizure of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Russian forces had been considered an ineffective institution with outdated military technology where corrupt practices were the rule rather than the exception. As we could see in 2008 Georgia Russian forces depended on numerical superiority and blunt military force. On the other hand during the Crimean events of 2014 the Russian military conducted the whole operation with high level of professionalism, without any bloodshed, and with modern weaponry. This research is based on the theory of neorealism which defines key parameters for performing a military modernization analysis. These include numbers, effectivity and strategy of military forces that help us to determine the current strength and power of each state. Therefore this research focuses on the...