Negotiation and conflict in a hybrid conflict environment

Abstract: We propose a negotiation and conflict management roundtable, with participants who are working both to develop understanding of hybrid conflict (HC) and of how negotiation theories might help, and to question how our related theories may need revision or adaptation for this new environment.

Hybrid conflict (HC) is a major current challenge for organizations of many kinds: increasingly, countries “attack” each other through various channels below the level that would trigger an armed response—or a response at all. Examples are numerous: attacks on underwater pipelines and cables, cyberattacks conducted by criminal groups working for military intelligence agencies, disinformation campaigns and/or use of transnational crime to destabilize foreign governments, and more.

Everyone—individuals, private and public organizations and governments alike—may become targets. HC also affects how we think of negotiation and conflict management: hidden actors with covert interests use deception, take advantage of any absence of deterring jurisdiction, and use physical intimidation, lawfare and other tools. A critically important aspect is that effective responses to HC cannot be mounted without extensive negotiations among the many players on the defending side. Countering HC thus requires a careful analysis of negotiation concepts, theories and practices.

This roundtable takes as its starting point a new book (DRI Press, 2025 forthcoming): Hybrid Warfare: A Collection of Scenarios (working title), a collection of twelve case scenarios edited by Adrian Borbély. The book is a product of more than five years’ work by some 50 conflict management scholars and security professionals.

Keywords: Hybrid Conflict, Hybrid Warfare, International Relations, Awareness, Resilience, Teaching