The thesis attempts at investigating a state-driven radicalization process as it is incited by an ideological system and utilized in the context of hybrid warfare. Contemporary Russia is taken as a concrete case study, with the research questions focused on: i) presenting the Russian World as an ideological system consistent of varying individual claims and tenets; ii) analysing the radicalization potential of said claims and tenets; and iii) tracing the process of radicalization by presenting a plausible causal mechanism based on the respective concepts and theories employed. The findings indicate a certain evolution of the Russian World ideology, while the practice of hybrid warfare is argued to serve the ideology as its actualizing component if the context is considered. Conclusively, it is also identified that the claims and tenets of Russian World are challenged ever more often, raising concerns with regards to the ideology's sustainable future, and in turn, the likelihood of social and political turbulence in Russia itself or a repetition of a radicalization instance comparable in its scale to that of Crimean Annexation in 2014. Mykola Lysenko Master thesis

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to theoretically sound concept of Peace Journalism, which combines theoretical foundations from two spheres: conflict and peace studies and media studies. Influence of journalists as intervening force and explaining factor with regard to (violent) conflict is neglected. However, Peace Journalism is not theoretically strong and builds upon dualistic definition vis-á-vis so-called War Journalism. The concept of Peace Journalism has to overcome this delamination in order to reflect theoretical underpinnings of conflict transformation theory and conflict analysis. Moreover, Peace Journalism has to differentiate media according to an involvement of given societies in a conflict. This offers an opportunity to specifically and accurately analyse news coverage of conflicts. Case studies analysing Czech coverage of Cyprus and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts illustrates this approach. The coverage is essentially flat, distorts a reality of the conflict, pays attention to visual and physical aspects of the conflict and closes the conflicts in arbitrary time boundaries.

This thesis examines the meaning and construction of the debated concept of hybrid war/warfare in the existing scholarly literature. The identified research problem stems from the lack of reflection on the conceptual reasoning and thought that underpins the nature of war, which relates to the fact that a historical linguistic perspective is neglected in most studies on war. Through this study, conceptual history theory has demonstrated its utility in War Studies by illustrating the benefit of applying a historically focused lens on debated and contested concepts. Thus, demonstrating how both a synchronic and diachronic perspective is necessary to examine how the meaning and construction of a concept change over time.  The analysis aims to answer the question of how the meaning of the hybrid war concept has developed in the existing body of literature between 2008-2021. Based on the analysis, it was observed that the greatest shift in terms of the meaning and use of the concept occurred after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. The previously optimistic anticipation of hybrid war in future was replaced with a more critical understanding of the concept itself, and the prospect of its future. All in all, the result of this thesis, beside the observed shift in the meaning and construction of the hybrid war concept, is that conceptual history theory can contribute to the understanding of contested and debated concepts related to the nature of war.

The relationship between Russia and Norway is one dictated by the asymmetric nature and ideological differences among the two states. Ever since the Cold War, the relationship has been one of cooperation and communication, characterized by Norway's dual policy and constant balancing between assertiveness and reassurance. After the Russian annexation of Crimea, the Norwegian security policy seemingly shifted in an assertive direction. Russia was once again lifted from the politics of normal to the politics of extra through a securitization. This thesis aims to demonstrate how Russia became resecuritized after the Russian annexation of Crimea. The empirical evidence presented in this thesis demonstrates that this assertive shift that came after the resecuritization of Russia is a result of the Russian demonstration of its modernized military, rather than a natural consequence of the hostile act the annexation was. It seeks to demonstrate that the changing security climate with Russia's new ways of war, or so-called hybrid warfare, coupled with a diminishing US interest in the Alliance, is the reason for this change in Norwegian security policy.

The aim of the work is to analyze the hybrid strategy of Russia against Ukraine. The thesis works with the notion of the socio-cultural concept of the Russian world in the context of a hybrid war. Information campaigns and narratives based on identity change can be used for military purposes. Propaganda and historical paradigms are used in planning hybrid operations. During the military operation in Crimea and the war in Donbass, certain parts of society are radicalized and used in the active part of the conflict.

This master's thesis deals with the response of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Russian hybrid threat, which is examined using a case study of the so-called "Lisa case" from January 2016. The thesis aims to place the "Lisa case" in the context of German-Russian relations and hybrid threats in the security reality of the 21st century. Germany and Russia have long had a special relationship, which, however, fell into crisis after the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The main goal of Russia's efforts to influence social and political development in Europe has become Germany, which must deal with new methods and strategies of hybrid warfare. The advent of hybrid threats is a challenge not only for Germany but also for its allies. Russia's view of hybrid threats proves that the term has different meanings for different actors. One of the manifestations of the Russian hybrid threat is the case of a thirteen-year-old girl of German-Russian origin Lisa F. who was missing in Berlin for several hours and allegedly raped by migrants. Although the German police promptly refuted the case, the Russian media misused the event to fuel an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, especially among a significant minority of Russian Germans. The incident spread to the intergovernmental level when Russian...

This paper examines Russian broadcast media's disinformation strategies after the Ukraine invasion in 2022. In the past decade, Russian disinformation has been recognized by scholars and policymakers as a danger to European security and order. And it has made it harder for Europeans to access reliable and factual information. However, much research thus far has been conducted when the war in Ukraine was different in proportion, and where disinformation functioned as the foundation for small-scale military action. Now that the war has evolved, disinformation strategies have evolved with it.  In this paper, I applied Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to twenty articles from three internationally oriented Russian broadcasters: RT, Sputnik, and TASS. This revealed two major themes in disinformation narratives: positive Self-representation and negative Other-representation. I demonstrate in this research that Russian disinformation is no longer used to hide Russia’s direct involvement in Ukraine, but that it is used to present justifications for the invasion and further military actions.  Moreover, the research illustrates that the relationship between information warfare and conventional warfare is symbiotic and that contemporary disinformation strategies have been adjusted so that they can benefit from the current circumstances in Ukraine. Ultimately, in this research, I determine that Russian disinformation strategies have evolved since the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and are now altered to align with the Kremlin’s aggressive military tactics.

This diploma thesis embraces the development of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) emphasizing the Alliance's capability to adequately adapt and react to the rapidly growing number of security challenges in our globalized world. Using the historical turning points and the experiences gained during the various conflicts the dissertation's focus is on the future of NATO in the "era of unpeace" where it is required to "defend against known unknowns" (Jankowski and Stepniewski (ed.) 2021). The first chapter of the thesis consists of an overview of the four main stages of the Alliance's development. The first phase (1949-1990) is the Cold War period, when the member states' emphasis was to build a strong collective defence strategy but at the same time, they established a liberal democratic system and accepted common values from the institutional point of view. The new members have adopted these governance standards and institutions, proved the effective assertion of the liberal institutionalism doctrine but never gave up military realism. The second stage (1990-2001) was represented by emerging new security challenges due to the fact that the bipolar world order had came to an end and the Alliance reacted to this by spreading the "security umbrella" with crisis management policies and...

SAMMANFATTNING Tid för förändring av krigföringens principer. Världen är i en konstant förändring, allianser bildas och överenskommelser tecknas. Detta har drivit omvärldsutvecklingen och globaliseringen till där vi är idag och där det militära maktmedlet används i syfte att uppnå politiska och religiösa målsättningar. Precis som världen har utvecklats så har även de militära styrkorna och vapensystem utvecklats. Att bli segrare i nästa konflikt är en innovationskraft som har drivit utvecklingen av den militära förmågan framåt runt om i världen. Krigen och konflikterna har fungerat som en testanläggning där vapensystem och den militära personalen prövas i strid. Erfarenheter från krigen har dragits och sedan implementerats i syfte att bli ännu starkare och militärt överlägsen.     Krigföringens principer, även kallade de militära grundprinciperna, är ett antal olika principer vilka syftar till att ge en vägledning i planering och genomförandet av militära operationer. Dessa principer togs fram och utvecklades under mitten av 1800-talet av militärteoretikerna Carl von Clausewitz och Antoine-Henri Jomini. Båda dessa militärteoretiker hade framgångar på slagfältet vilket gjorde att de fick genomslag för sina teorier. Dessa teorier har sedan, genom utbildning, applicerats på officerskårer världen över och på så sätt ”cementerats” fast och blivit en basplatta i militärteorin.  Dagens militärteoretiker, framförallt med en amerikansk anknytning, menar på att grundprinciperna är föråldrade på dagens slagfält. Principerna skrevs för att vinna ett lokalt slag på en begränsad plats, inte för att vinna ett krig som påverkar ett helt samhälle under en lång tid. Med en accelererande teknikutveckling och globalisering så har vissa av dessa grundprinciper blivit föråldrade och bör således omformuleras för att vara relevanta i en modern konflikt. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka om krigföringens principer, ur en svensk kontext, behöver förändras för att på ett mer adekvat sätt kunna möta en modern konflikt. Detta görs genom att undersöka utvalda amerikanska militärteoretikers teorier gällande vilka grundprinciper som är inaktuella och därmed behöver ersättas eller omformuleras. Genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys undersöks sedan om dessa nya grundprinciper kan återfinnas i skrivningar i Försvarsmaktens doktriner vilket kan utgöra stöd för att dessa principer kan implementeras i en svensk kontext. Analysen och resultatet av denna studie påvisar att det finns grundprinciper vilka, ur en svensk kontext, är i behov av revidering för att på ett mer adekvat sätt vara applicerbara i en framtida konflikt. Vidare påvisar resultatet att dessa principer tydligt återfinns i skrivningar i Försvarsmaktens doktriner. Dessutom har teknikutvecklingen spelat en stor roll i vidareutvecklingen av grundprinciperna, då den kan fungera som ett stöd och komplement till grundprinciperna. Således bör de militära grundprinciperna omformuleras alternativt revideras i svenska doktriner syftande till att göra det möjligt för Sverige att stå som vinnare i nästa konflikt. Nyckelord: Försvarsmakten, Krigföringens principer, teknisk utveckling, Militärstrategisk doktrin, Precision, Förskjutning, Överraskning, Modern krigsföring, Hybridkrigsföring. / ABSTRACT Time to change the principles of war. The world is under constant change, alliances and agreements are made. This has pushed the development and globalization to where we stand today, and the military force is used to achieve political and religious objectives. The armed military forces and weapon systems have been refined, just like the world has. The strive to win the next armed conflict has been an innovation force, pushing the augmentation of armed forces around the world. The wars and conflicts have served as test facilities, were weapon systems and personnel have been proven on the battlefield. Experiences from the battlefield have been implemented, with the purpose to achieve more military superiority.        The principles of war are principles that are meant to give guidance in the planning and implementation of military operations. These principles were created during the mid-19th century by the two military theorists Carl Von Clausewitz and Antoine-Henri Jomini. Both these military theorists had successful careers on the battlefield, contributing to the impact of their theories. These theories have been implemented in the education of officers worldwide, thereby forming a foundation in military theory.        Modern military theorists, especially from the US, states that the principles of war are outdated on the modern battlefield. The principles were written to win a battle in a constrained area, not for winning an entire war, affecting a whole society during a long period of time. With accelerating development of technology and globalization, some of the principles of war are outdated and should be rewritten or replaced to be relevant in a modern conflict.     The aim of this thesis is to examine if the principles of war, in a Swedish context, needs to be altered in order to confront a modern conflict more aptly. This is conducted through an examination of selected American military theorists’ theories in terms of which of the principles that are obsolete and in need of replacement or rephrasing. Swedish doctrines are then to be examined through qualitative content analysis in order to find wordings that can support the ability of these new principles of war to be implemented in a Swedish context. The analysis and result of this thesis demonstrates that there are principles of war that needs reformulation to be applicable on the battlefield of the future. Furthermore, the result demonstrates that these principles clearly are found in the Swedish doctrines writings. Also, the advancing technology has been a significant contributor in the development of the new principles of war, as a complement and support. The principles of war must be rewritten or changed in Swedish doctrines in order to enable Sweden to become the winner in the next modern conflict.           Keywords: Swedish armed forces, Principles of war, Technology development, Military Strategic Doctrine, Precision, Dislocate, Surprise, Modern Warfare, Hybrid Warfare.

With a changing state of security in Europe, defined by instability and unpredictability, the use of hybrid threats presents itself as an international security challenge. Characterized by the antagonistic use of both conventional and unconventional means, the hybrid threat actor coordinates these means in an attempt achieve specific goals, often under a guise of ambiguity. The complexity of hybrid threats deepens as advancing technology and globalisation enables the hybrid threat actor to use tools not only bound by geographical constraints, but tools that makes use the cyber domain and the constant flow of information. Tools ranging from military, political, economic, civil, and informational tools can, in various combinations, take advantage of specific vulnerabilities in the target state. Identifying and countering such a wide range of multifaceted tools provides a difficult task for most states.                                            This study aims to investigate the Swedish hybrid threat scenario by focusing on the authorities concerned with national defence and security and their identification of potential hybrid threats that faces Sweden. For countering such hybrid threats the study investigates the highly topical Swedish defence act 2021-2025. Its focus being on investigating potential goals, strategies and abilities for building resilience and countermeasures regarding hybrid threats. The study finds that Sweden is subject to the use of hybrid threats by antagonistic state actors, mainly Russia and China. Tools being used against Sweden include for example espionage, strategic acquisition of businesses and real estate, disinformation, and cyberattacks. For countering these threats, the study fails to find a specific set of goals for hybrid threat defence. Instead, the study finds a broad effort to strengthen national defence and security including among others the rebuilding of the Total Defence, founding of a national cybersecurity centrum, instituting an agency for psychological defence as well as lifting the perspective of hybrid threat among relevant national agencies.