Call for Papers - Forum 2022

Hybrid Warfare Research Institute & St. George Association
October 7-8^th, 2022
Zagreb, Croatia

Call for Papers:
Hybrid Threats and Resilience of Society, Critical Infrastructure and the State

Scientific and professional papers presented at previous ZSF’s have indicated a strong relationship between state and societal stability and security and the resilience of its critical infrastructure. Contemporary and future security threats will employ multiple vectors and a variety of means controlled by different government, non-governmental, and proxy departments and agencies. The attacker must try to shape, influence and control all these processes so that he can adapt them to his needs and goals. In the process of planning and carrying out offensive actions, attackers must, in addition to harnessing all relevant parts of his state institutions, necessarily include parts of his own civil society. Finally, we must not lose sight of the fact that coordination is only part of the hybrid equation; a deep and detailed understanding of the strengths, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses of the target, the potential to coerce or influence third-parties to gain the desired ends, and, particularly with state-based threats, possession of a credible military force to limit target response options, are also critical to applying hybrid methods.

In this context, preempting, defending against, and responding to hybrid threats requires modularly organized, resilient national capabilities able to coordinate and synchronize across levels of government (and, ideally, with allies), buttressed by resilient critical infrastructure to enable continued function in a contested environment. While national contexts will differ, indications of best practice from previous ZSF suggest the need for overarching Homeland Security concepts to integrate national-level activity. The goal of the ZSF, therefore, is to encourage the exchange, discussion, and debate of experience, best practice, and knowledge on challenging the ability of threat actors employing hybrid methods to manage and control conflict escalation. Deterrence requires strength. Resilient national organizations, critical infrastructure, and civil society must be the foundations of strength.

The 2022 Zagreb Security Forum will include the presentation of preliminary research results of the NATO STO SAS-161 Research Task Group. Charged with investigating the Military Aspects of Countering Hybrid Warfare: Experiences, Lessons, Best Practices, this work aims to provide unique insight through a range of national-level case studies. For the 2022 Zagreb Security Forum we welcome paper proposals from scientific or practitioner perspectives, on every issue relating to the conference theme, with special emphasis on:

• A potential nexus between Hybrid Threats, climate change, and environmental considerations;
• The role of Strategic Communication and Crisis Management in countering Hybrid Threats through the study and analysis of practical case studies;
• Concepts for the evaluation and analysis of Hybrid Threat effects and influences on civil society and industry;
• The concept of and role of Strategic Culture in a hybrid threat context;
• Case studies of disinformation campaigns;
• The role of technology and R&D in early detection and prevention of Hybrid Threats;
• The military role in hybrid threat contexts;
• Malicious influences to the rise of Populism, Radicalism, Political Extremism and Violence (with special accent on the West Balkan 6 and the MENA region);
• Modern threats to maritime security and safety, with emphasis on the Mediterranean Sea;
• Advantages, limitations, ethical questions and legal consequences of counter-hybrid threats activities.

Please submit your paper proposal abstract of 250-300 words and your detailed CV in English via e-mail.

The deadline for proposal submissions is December 20, 2021.
Notifications of acceptance will go out by February 21, 2022.
Conference presenters are invited to submit their revised paper after the Forum in form of an article to the National Security and The Future journal.

Further information are available at our website www.zagrebsecurityforum.com

For more info about Forum papers, please Contact us. 

With kind regards,

• Call For Papers 2022 (download .PDF)