The Increasing Importance of Hybrid Politics in Europe: Cyber Power Is Changing the Nature of Politics

by Aapo Cederberg and Jarno Limnéll

STRATEGIC SECURITY ANALYSIS

1. Introduction

Europe is becoming increasingly digital – and the development of digitalisation and emerging tech- nologies is accelerating. Cyberspace has become an indispensable area of human activity, a sphere of regular security breaches and data threats, and an arena for inter-state con ict. When considering cyberspace from the nation state’s point of view, we must keep two intensifying trends in mind. Firstly, today’s cyber-related questions have become highly politicised. Thus, political commitment to and guidance on the development of cyberspace need to be strengthened. Secondly, cyberspace has created a new domain of warfare and is in u- encing the so-called cyber dimension of modern hybrid warfare. Hybrid threats have become one of the most prominent security challenges and an important part of security cooperation in Europe.

This paper examines the concepts of cyber politics and cyber-enabled hybrid warfare. It pays speci c attention to the vulnerabilities of modern Western societies from a strategic-political perspective. The paper concludes that instead of cyber politics as such, a new kind of politics is needed – hybrid politics. Hybrid politics will be presented as a potential- ly winning concept for European security.

2. What is cyber politics?

Read whole analysis here: Hybrid-Politics_Final