Hybrid Crisis Management: An Integrated Response to Contemporary Asymmetric Threats

Abstract

This article examines the transformation of hybrid conflict over the period 2007-2024 and its impact on the resilience of states within the Euro-Atlantic area, with an emphasis on the interaction among the cyber, information, economic, and legal-political dimensions. Methodologically, the study employs a comparative case-study approach, to highlight variations in vulnerability and institutional responses to hybrid threats. The analysis integrates a resilience-cycle framework, correlated with a multidimensional operational taxonomy. The results indicate a structural mutation of hybrid conflict, in which information and cyber instruments become central to the production of strategic effects. The study also highlights the consolidation of internal mobilisation and offensive legal actions (lawfare) as distinct vectors of hybrid power that are insufficiently
integrated into existing theoretical and normative frameworks. The principal conclusion shows that institutional and societal resilience constitutes the essential condition of contemporary deterrence, being  etermined by the coherence of the normative framework, operational capacity, and the level of investment in cyber and information security. The study proposes an integrated analytical framework for the assessment and management of hybrid threats, with relevance for national and Euro-Atlantic security policies.