Abstract
Proliferation of grey zone conflicts has led to expansion of politico-military vocabulary to encompass new terms but sans conceptual clarity and inherent dichotomies in the understood definitions. Therefore, a framework has been defined to analyze the lexica used, consequent to which legitimacy of ‘hybrid warfare’ has been established, while rejecting others. Therein the aspect of Hybrid Warfare as being ‘new’ was examined from oriental and occidental prisms to come to the conclusion that it is not a new phenomenon as a broad range of similarities exist but with variations. Thereon the contours of emerging form of contestation termed ‘Hybrid Conflict’ and associated Hybrid Threats, Forces and Operations have been delved upon, which marks a shift to use of non-military means as primary instrument of power by both State and non-State actors along with a shift in targets from politico-military (conventional) to politico-society (irregular), which is colloquially termed as Responses Short of War (RSOW).
Keywords: Hybrid War, Grey Zone Warfare, India’s Preparedness, Balance of Power, Multi-Domain Operations
