TIC Focus l
The hybrid nature of warfare thrives on elements which were present in societies – traditional and modern likewise. However, as we had mentioned earlier, the traditional nature of warfare do not exploit these vulnerabilities of societies in ancient times with frequency at which they are exploited in the modern world. The simplest, and direct, nature of warfare do not seems to encourage proclivity of adversaries towards socio-political undercurrents of the society of their enemy.
Modern societies with their complex and multifaceted nature of governance alongside the globalized nature of international governance and cultural relativism put modern societies at a significant disadvantage in the changing complexion of war. In modern age, the entirety of society, its people, its social institutions, its cultural norms and social values and even the most basic unit of every society – the institution of family – are an integral of war.
In India, for instance, the socio-cultural heterogeneous composition of society enhance Indian soft power while it also undermines its stability because of the ingrained cultural differences among various ethnicities and religious groups within the country. Contemporary government of India led by a Hindutva ideologue – Narendra Modi – with its exclusivist and insular view of society and world push the heterogeneous composition of society from an amplifier element to an element of great peril. Any adversarial country – prominently China and Pakistan – can deployed various machinations to disturb internal social status quo to their favor.
European populism also represent this nature of warfare. One of the core populist notions particularly in Western Europe is their belief that liberalism is eroding the traditional foundation of their family institutions. The alleged Russian machinations to prop populist parties comprises of several factors including the exploitation of the liberalist interpretation of the family institution.
Therefore, the threat matrix was always presents in society but the frequency with which they are exploited have no parallel in history. The previously guarded areas from occurrence of warfare activity now finds themselves in the midst of an intense and intricate form of warfare. Hybrid warfare combines these social, religious, economic and political undercurrents of society in the formation of their strategy to take the warfare to their economic, social and political centers to keep tabs on the state and society of the adversary. Defeat is not necessarily the end goal in this warfare, the end goal is keep the adversary under influence.
