The securitisation of hybrid warfare through practices within the Iran-Israel conflict - Israel's practices to securitize Hezbollah's Proxy War

• Authors: Christian Kaunert , Ori Wertman
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Iran has been waging a hybrid war against Israel since the Islamic revolution of 1979. In an era when conventional wars have given way to a different method, hybrid warfare, the main challenge facing states is how to deal with this new type of security threat. Thus, while states have previously faced security threats from regular enemy states’ armies, nowadays hybrid warfare in which non-state actors play a key role has become a widespread security threat that requires democratic states to use very different strategies and tactics to overcome it. Using securitisation theory, which explores how normal issues transform into security threats, this article analyses how the State of Israel has securitised Iranian hybrid warfare which has been mainly executed through its proxy terror organisations of Hezbollah. It does so by applying a revised version of the Copenhagen School’s securitisation framework, which focuses on security practices and is underpinned by an understanding of security as belonging to a continuum. The proxy terror organisations have moved towards the end point of the continuum, which is characterised by survival, existential threats, and militarisation, albeit without completely reaching the end point.

Keywords

EN

Iran; Israel; hybrid warfare; Securitization Theory; Hezbollah

• Publisher: Akademia Sztuki Wojennej
• Journal: Security and Defence Quarterly
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 99-114

Dates

published

2020-12-30

received

2020-09-11

revised

2020-10-15

accepted

2020-11-25

Contributors

author

Christian Kaunert

• International Centre for Policing and Security, University of South Wales, United Kingdom

author

Ori Wertman

• International Centre for Policing and Security, University of South Wales, United Kingdom

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Identifiers

DOI

10.35467/sdq/130866