Disinformation as a Tool of Hybrid Warfare: A Strategic Analysis of National Security in the Balkans

Due to the rapid growth in technology, the information environment has rapidly transformed into a key avenue for hybrid threats, changing the traditional conception of national security into a perpetual state of “hybridity”. This article presents an interdisciplinary analysis of disinformation - using information science, political science, and psychology - to review its function as a strategic method in the Gray Zone. By deploying multiple tactics (conventional, irregular, cyber) simultaneously, hybrid malefactors take advantage of societal weaknesses in order to undermine democratic systems without engaging in a full-scale conflict. The special attention of this report is focused on the Balkans, where entrenched ethnic, religious, and political divisions make for a permissive environment for subversion. The author will examine how the Ukraine War and Covid-19 pandemic have acted as catalysts for increased hybrid activity through automated social bots and other technological tactics to increase impact and degrade the trust in government institutions. This report ultimately calls for a “whole-of-society” approach to building resilience against information based attacks by promoting critical digital literacy and improved levels of cooperation between the NATO and EU in order to protect regional stability given the shifting nature of these types of attacks on information systems.