Hybrid Warfare and Peacebuilding in Countries Influenced by the Soviet Legacy Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Overview

Some of these states emerged as a result of the collapse of the USSR, while others were already independent but remained politically and militarily aligned with the Soviet Union through the Warsaw Pact framework.

In total, the  Hybrid Warfare and Peacebuilding in Countries Influenced by the Soviet Legacy course from VU Amsterdam Summer School  examines approximately twenty episodes of armed conflict. Particular attention will be given to cases such as the Russian–Ukrainian war, the Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict, and the ongoing tensions in Moldova, Georgia, and other tensions caused by Russian hybrid influence.

Key Facts

One of the central focuses is postcolonial analysis of Russia and the USSR as imperial formations, particularly in the late-Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Another focus is the study of propaganda and information influence in the digital society, including how hybrid information strategies provoke or sustain pockets of military and political tension in post-colonial contexts. 

The subject of the course is the study of the nature, consequences, and narrative framing of these conflicts, along with the political, ethnic, and socio-cultural processes driving them. The course engages with conceptual frameworks such as neo-imperialism, postcolonialism, post-communist transformation, waves of democratization, and civilizational conflict.