Western Balkans as the Frontline of Russian Hybrid Warfare
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17809663 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Vesna Bojicic-Dzelilovic (0000-0002-7831-9316, London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Global Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1758-5880 • E-ISSN: 1758-5899 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1758-5899.70148 |
| OpenAlex | W7127931445 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 25 |
Hybrid warfare (HW) scholarship acknowledges the phenomenon's contextual and temporal specificity, yet its dominant conceptual framing has generated a literature largely centred on identifying and categorising hybrid activities. This focus has left the contextual vulnerabilities that enable hybrid threats (HTs) and shape an adversary's selection of tools and methods underexplored. Addressing this gap, the paper offers a comprehensive analysis of Russia's engagement in the Western Balkans (WB), guided by three core questions: to whom, where and why is the HT directed in this particular environment? It finds that how local societies perceive an external actor's engagement (domestic response) is integral to public understanding of what constitutes an HT and affects whether and how an adversary engages in HW. In the WB, affinity with Russia is a key factor shaping the domestic response to Russia's interference in domestic processes, enabling Russia to pursue a sophisticated and impactful range of activities with regional effects, which has turned it into an HW frontline. From a policy practice perspective, a comprehensive contextual analysis that uncovers what makes certain HW practices effective provides a necessary foundation for developing an appropriate set of countermeasures to alter domestic responses within an HW deterrence approach focused on societal resilience
Adversary · Deterrence theory · Scholarship · European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies · Military History and Strategy · Military Strategy and Technology
Geopolitical Positioning of a Small State
The rise of illiberal politics in Southeast Europe
Civil Society and Transitions in the Western Balkans
Countering hybrid threats
Resilience through total defence
Democratic Deterrence
Deterrence in the 21st century
Hybrid warfare’ as an academic fashion
Speaking of hybrid warfare
Hybrid War and Its Countermeasures
Hybrid, ambiguous, and non-linear? How new is Russia's 'new way of war
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |