The “hybrid war” constructing in Western media space. Main stages and actors

The article analyzes a process of the ‘hybrid war’ constructing as a political discourse in Western media space at the initial stages of its formation and promotion in 2014. Using the discourse analysis and process-tracing methods, the author detects principal actors involved in the process, reconstructs the sequence of events in the course of establishing and elaborating the ‘hybrid war’ discourse and analyzes transformation of meanings of that discourse proceeding from interests of actors involved into its elaboration. The analysis presented in the article led to the following conclusions: 1) discourse about Russia’s ‘hybrid war’ against the West was formulated in the spring of 2014 for substantiation of Ukrainian narrative on ‘Russian aggression in Ukraine’ and consolidation of the confrontational nature of relations between the West and Russia; 2) at the initial stage of discourse elaboration and dissemination the key role in this process was performed by representatives of non-governmental analytical institutions of the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine and Great Britain, and in its formalization at the international level – the NATO official representatives and institutions; 3) in conceptual respect the ‘hybrid war’ discourse, combining into a single whole the conventional, irregular and information warfare, facilitated ‘étatisation’ of non-traditional security threats, “militarizing” the “soft power” and criminalizing the conventional ways of inter-state competition.

1. Archakov, V.Yu., Punchenko, V.N. and Remenchik, V.E. (2017), “Information factor in hybrid wars”, Geopolitika i bezopasnost, no. 2 (38), pp. 16-27.

2. Belozerov, VK. and Solov’ev, A.V. (2015), “Hybrid war in Russian political and academic discourse”, Vlast’, no. 9, pp. 5–11, available at: http://www.isras.ru/files/File/Vlast/2015/2015_9/Belozerov.pdf (Accessed 1 July 2020).

3. Bērziņš, J. (2014), “Russia’s New Generation Warfare in Ukraine: Implications for Latvian Defense Policy”, National Defence Academy of Latvia Center for Security and Strategic Research Policy Paper, April, no. 2, 15 p., available at: https://sldinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/New-Generation-Warfare.pdf (Accessed 1 July 2020).

4. Chekinov, S.G. and Bogdanov, S.A. (2013), “On the nature and contents of the new generation warfare”, Voennaya mysl’, no. 10, pp. 13-24.

5. Darczewska, J. (2014), “The Anatomy of Russian Information Warfare. The Crimean Operation. A Case Study”, OSW Point of View, no. 42, 37 p., available at: https://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/files/the_anatomy_of_russian_information_warfare.pdf (Accessed 1 July 2020).

6. Dayspring, S.M. (2016), “Countering Russian Hybrid Warfare: Acknowledging the Character of Modern Conflict, CTX, vol. 6, no. 4, Special Issue ‘Countering Hybrid Warfare: the Best Uses of SOF in a Pre-Article V Scenario’, pp. 20–30, available at: https://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/files/the_anatomy_of_russian_information_warfare.pdf (Accessed 1 July 2020).

7. Fridman, O. (2018), Russian “Hybrid Warfare”: Resurgence and Politicization.: Oxford University Press, Oxford.

8. Gerasimov, V. (2013), “The value of science is in foreseeing. New challenges require revision of the forms and ways of waging war”, Voenno-promyshlennyi kur’er. 26 February, available at: http://www.vpk-news.ru/articles/14632 (Accessed 1 July 2020).

9. Kofman, M. and Rojansky, M. (2015), “A Closer look at Russia’s ‘Hybrid War’”, Kennan Cable, April, no. 7, available at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/7-KENNAN%20CABLE-ROJANSKY%20KOFMAN.pdf (Accessed July 2020).

10. Limonier, K. and Gérard, C. (2017), “Guerre hybride russe dans le cyberespace”, Hérodote, no. 166–167, pp. 145–163.

11. Poryvkin, V.N. (2017), “Classic, ‘hybrid’ and ‘cold’ war as categories in the world politics”, Sovremennye tendentsii razvitiya nauki i tekhnologii, no. 2-7, pp. 85–89.

12. Sazonova, K.L. (2017), “’Hybrid war’. An international legal dimension”, Law. Journal of the Higher School of Economics, no. 4, pp. 177–187.

13. Sosnovskaya, A.M. (2016), “Ideology and mass communications: Hybrid war in Ukraine”, Nauchnye Trudy SZIIU – filiala RANKh I GS [Scientific works of NorthWest Institute of Management – branch of Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration], vol. 7, Issue 3 (25), pp. 134–142.

14. Steinmeier, F.-W. (2014), Grußwort des Bundesministers des Auswärtigen. Jahresabrüstungsbericht 2014. Bilanz und Perspektiven, Berlin, Germany, S. 4–6, available at: http://docplayer.org/67904000-Jahresabruestungsbericht-bilanz-und-perspektiven.html (Accessed 1 July 2020).

15. Trapeznikova, Yu.V. and Baturin, L.M. (2017), “Hybrid war as a way of achieving world hegemony”, Politicheskii vector – PRO. Kompleksnye problemy sovremennoi politiki, no. 1-2, pp. 43–45, available at: http://sites.susu.ru/sociopolit/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/07/%D0%9F%D0%92-PRO-2017-%E2%84%96-1-2.pdf (Accessed 1 July 2020).

16. Tsygankov, P.A. (2015), “’Hybrid war’: Political discourse and the international practice”, Moscow State University Bulletin. Series 18. Sociology and Political Science, no. 4, pp. 253–258.