From Blurred Lines to Red Lines: How Countermeasures and Norms Shape Hybrid Conflict | Responding to Russian Disinformation in Peacetime

Conflicts between states have taken on new forms and hybrid operations play an increasingly important role in this volatile environment. Belligerent powers introduce a new model of conflict fought by proxy, across domains, and below the conventional war threshold to advance their foreign policy goals while limiting decisive responsiveness of their victim.   

Given these hybrid threats, how should Western states respond? Are there any tools available Western states have that can draw red lines into blurred lines of hybrid conflict? 

About this Paper

In addition to being victims of Russian hacking during their 2016 and 2018 elections, the U.S. and France were also exposed to Russian disinformation campaigns designed to target domestic audiences. Disinformation is especially difficult to respond to as it is not explicitly banned by international law. So, how should states respond to being a victim of a disinformation campaign? Are there any non-legal instruments states can use to support their case? 

This case study analyses the differing American and French countermeasures, which ranged from offensive cyberoperations to anti-disinformation campaigns, and their second-order normative effects. In lieu of explicit norm emergence, our analysis offers suggestions for framing and linking a norm proposal against disinformation, as well as first steps to assist in socialization, to prohibit concerted Russian covert influence operations aimed at undermining democratic processes, while allowing overt support for democratic processes and voices.   

About the Paper Series

This paper is part of a series that argues that the West does have one powerful tool that can help shape hybrid threat actors. That tool is international norms. Norms set international expectations of acceptable state behavior – yardsticks which the international community can leverage when calling out unscrupulous states.  

But norms do not develop out of nothing. This report applies the norm lifecycle theory, which analyzes norm development from emergence to cascade and internalization, to five case studies to to better understand the real-life strategies, tools of influence, dilemmas, and trade-offs that empower state-led norm processes. The report not only considers how norms develop, but also what role they play within the counter-hybrid posture of a state, and how they, in conjunction with countermeasures, shape adversarial hybrid behavior. 

This report also explores four other case studies on Russian, Chinese, and ISIS hybrid conflict actions. The case studies are published individually as a paper series and compiled in a full report with complete overview of the theoretical underpinnings of norm development and the key insights that emerge from the analysis, as well as the concluding remarks and policy recommendations. The policy recommendations explore ways for the Netherlands and its partners to help promote and enforce norms of restraint beyond classic like-minded groups of states while being cognizant of unintended consequences.  

Please find an overview of the other case studies below.

• Case Study 1: Protecting Electoral Infrastructure from Russian Cyber Operations Download Case Study | Download Factsheet
• Case Study 3: Countering ISIS Propaganda in Conflict Theatres Download Case Study | Download Factsheet
• Case Study 4: Responding to Chinese Economic Espionage Download Case Study | Download Factsheet
• Case Study 5: Upholding Freedom of Navigation in the South China Sea Download Case Study | Download Factsheet