Deterrence in the Age of Hybrid Threats

Warfare has constantly evolved to match the environment. In the contemporary era, borders are not only territorial but expand into the social, economic and cognitive domain as well. Warfare has also graduated to utilising every possible means in its quest to find more ways to meet the ends. As strategy evolves to use every possible tool across domains by posing hybrid threats, strategy to counter such attempts also takes shape by recalibrating their approach towards deterring adversary from employing such threats. Achieving deterrence is the first step in countering hybrid threats but not with the same outlook with which Conventional or Nuclear Deterrence is conceived. This commentary attempts to highlight the need for adopting a deterrence strategy designed to overcome hybrid design of emerging threats.