Weaponization of all Elements of National Power: Hybrid Warfare against Pakistan

Abstract

In post-Cold War era, the international security environment witnessed major changes. With new forms of asymmetric threats transgressing the traditional state boundaries, policy makers and practitioners are struggling to understand the new phenomenon that the world is currently engaged in, or is likely to experience in future. The concept of “Hybrid Warfare (HW)†is one such concept. Traditional aggression would be costlier than ever before and the Escalation Control would be extremely difficult because of the nuclear factor. The Stability-Instability Paradox, has created more space for instability at lower levels. This is where the South Asian security landscape assumes prominence, and the application of newer forms of Warfare gains currency with focus on weaponization of all Elements of National Power (EoNP) instead of solely relying on military. Under the umbrella of Realism, especially Mearsheimer’s theory of ‘Offensive Realism’, the author would analyze the intervention of foreign elements like India aided by other powers which is primarily aimed towards weakening of Pakistan through an altered End-Ways-Means paradigm. Analysis of “Clausewitzian Trinity†reveals that the masses are the primary target of this paradigm by exploiting “horizontal inequalities in society†and the “breach of the social contract†between the state and the citizens. The author concludes that HW, while not entirely a new phenomenon, is distinguishable because in this case adversaries achieve the same ends with modified ways and means.