Course content

The hybrid battlefield is as old as warfare itself. The novelty in contemporary conflicts resides in the multitude of areas where hybrid tools are deployed and relied on. When hybrid tools interact across disciplines and domains, the hybrid battlefield becomes highly complex. Understanding the different tools of the hybrid battlefield requires an understanding of the different branches and domains of hybrid warfare. The course The Hybrid Battlefield - Hybrid Tools Inside and Outside of Armed Conflict aims to provide an overview of the hybrid realm, and an introduction into the history of use and abuse of hybrid tools to pressure adversaries outside of the ordinary playfield of diplomacy and the military battlefield.

Hybrid tools are relied on to shape and pressure other states, without resorting to the use of conventional military force. When war is too dangerous, and diplomacy is ineffective, hybrid tools may offer a tertia optio in international relations. In this perspective, hybrid tools belong to the realm between the tools of war and the tools of peace. Hybrid tools refers to means of pressure in international politics taking place outside of the scope of armed conflict, with the aim to pressure other states to do or to refrain from certain activities, in the service of the existential or national interests of the state. Hybrid means often have aims akin to those of military might, but are relied on outside the military battlefield. This course provides an overview of the realm of hybrid tools - the hybrid battlefield.

Hybrid tools are grey-zone activities between what is acceptable and lawful, and that which is unacceptable or unlawful. They may be relied on in parallel with military might, outside of the confines of the war-theatre, or they may be resorted to in any area where power struggles in international politics may be manifest.

The course starts by a review of how hybrid means may accompany military force during armed conflict, as force-multipliers or force-neutralizers. The course then presents eight important realms of international politics where hybrid tools are increasingly relied on outside of armed conflict: (unconventional) military tools outside of armed conflict, political, economic, financial, social, legal and cyber (hardware & software), in addition to the information domain (content, including AI-generated). The course will present a tool-kit of methods used by states in these different areas to counter enemies, rivals or other adversaries.

The course offers an instrumental perspective on international law and politics. It does not answer what is lawful, prohibited or ethically unacceptable, but rather how these boundaries are increasingly taken advantage of by states to maximize their own instruments of influence.

Learning outcome

A candidate who passes this course is expected to have the following learning outcome according to the course curriculum, defined as knowledge and skills:

Knowledge

The candidate has

• in-debth knowledge about hybrid tools in all six military doemains, including the thresholds for different types of armed conflicts and instruments
• substantial knowledge about attribution (the act of holding a given state or actor responsible for a hybrid attack)
• considerable knowledge about selected means of pressure that may replace conventional military means inside and outside of armed conflict, with an emphasis on cyber, economic and legal tools, and their potential effects
• knowledge about the remaining areas of hybrid tools under the threshold of armed conflict (diplomatic, political, social, financial and information tools)

Skills

The candidate

• is able to assess questions of threshold in relation to hybrid attacks in all military domains
• can situate a hybrid tool in the landscape of instruments, and has a method for evaluating the effects/seriousness of the use of the tool/the attack itself
• has overview of a number of intended and unintended side-effects of the use of hybrid tools, for use in the evaluation of the gravity or the analysis hybrid use between third parties
• understands the implications of the use of the instrument attribution of hybrid attacks

Learning methods and activities

The course is taught digitally, where lectures, podcasts and other teaching material are made available through a digital platform. This platform will constitute a digital classroom where digital meeting points are established for teaching, student active learning, follow-up, guidance, etc.

In addition to the digital "core", a physical gathering will be held during the semester.

The compulsory activity in the course is a term paper where the student must compare two relevant publications. The term paper must be approved for the students to present themselves for assessment in the course.

Compulsory assignments

• Term paper

Recommended previous knowledge

None

Required previous knowledge

BA in military studies, history, political science or equivalent.

Course materials

Curriculum, compendium, and other material will be published on a digital platform.

Credit reductions