Modern Military Conflict Classification and Their Role in Contemporary International Security System

Abstract

The modern security environment and one of its components - the course of military conflicts - have changed dramatically in the modern era. The development of such conflicts has been greatly influenced by military-technical revolutions, which in the 21st century have radically changed the dynamics of their production, operational management, and the scale of involvement of new technologies. This factor especially increases significantly in conditions of war or war. Today, when the so-called factor of the "fourth generation" strategy in the conditions of the international security system, which includes its constituent elements, such as the so-called doctrine of "asymmetric warfare" (hybrid warfare, cyber warfare, contactless warfare, high-maneuver warfare, low-intensity warfare, jihadist warfare, information-warfare war) when the phase of hostilities, even at the level of grand strategy, does not coincide with the conditions of conventional or "symmetrical" warfare, and as it did in the context of limited military conflict in August 2008 (and not war, which by military strategy standards did not match the classic war scenario), Even during the "Crimean scenario." At present, there are to indicate the following type of military conflicts that are: Low-intensity military conflictHybrid warfare Local war Full-pledge conventional war Coalition war Strategic Instability military confrontation (nuclear triad threat perception) Hence, the modern military conflicts, one example of which is the military aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, which began on February 24 this year, are a clear example of how they affect the vulnerability of world stability and the resilience of the international security system. The aim of the paper is to identify what military conflict is at present and what kind of classification is applicable for outlining the dynamics and tendencies of military conflicts. Research Questions – the thesis draft consists of some research questions more qualified for the subject and mission of the thesis. The questions imply the following: What are the main aspects of developing military conflicts in the aegis of contemporary international security and its geostrategic implications? What is Asymmetric warfare, and why is its emergence so crucial for contemporary international security, namely in developing military conflicts? Hypothesis (H1): when the bipolar system dissolved in the transitional world order phase have emerged new types of actors became powerful enough to be the dominant factor in the contemporary international security system with new military strategy indoctrination folded in Fourth Warfare Generation (4GW); Methodological and Theoretical background: Fourth Generation Warfare includes elements of Asymmetric Warfare doctrine that is very plausible for waging wars in the 21st century. According to some academic sources, there are many definitions of the doctrine. However, one is Asymmetric Warfare– a war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly from or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly[1]. This is in contrast to symmetric warfare, where two powers have similar military power and resources and rely on a similar overall strategy, differing only in details and execution[2]. The popularity of new war theory in strategic studies, labeled as "hybrid war," is determined by the importance of globalization's effect on global security and the contemporary international relations system. In a different context, we can consider the phenomenon of hybrid warfare as a "case study" of various modern military conflicts. Hybrid warfare is a new phenomenon, and its nature has become more widespread in the 21st-century international security system. The military aspects of its dimension equate to the concept of fourth-generation wars, where priority is given to fighting to neutralize asymmetric military threats and defeat the will of the adversary rather than physically destroying the adversary himself. A concrete manifestation of hybrid warfare in this era is the occupation by the Russian Federation of the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine's sovereign territory carried out by units of the Rapid Reaction Command HQ and its subsequent annexation in 2014. In addition, hostilities under hybrid warfare have been observed in the Syrian regional war. The production of virtual warfare in cyberspace is also a type of hybrid warfare called "cyber war." The general directions of the strategic military parameters of the hybrid war can be presented as follows: - Not physical, but the moral and political defeat of the opponent - Use of combined military tactical elements - Production of information-propaganda struggle - Cyberwar - Cultural expansion - Partisan warfare. Therefore, in waging this type of war, one must assume that its consequences will not be as devastating as they were in previous generations but will be more severe for the world community. That is why it is essential to find out what a hybrid war is today. In this respect, there is no unified approach to the definition of the expression, and its accurate identification still needs to be determined. Georgian researchers have taken some steps in this direction. For example, Professor Besik Aladashvili, one of the leading specialists in Georgia, gives one of the most exciting definitions of hybrid war: "Hybrid war is a war through managed chaos. One of the main components is the information war to demoralize the opponent completely." The existence of the information war component is the so-called part of the "fourth generation war" concept. In turn, one of the forms of information warfare is the theory of psychological warfare, which is carried out to achieve military goals. In the same context, producing a propaganda campaign is essential to a hybrid war because propaganda is the information intended to mislead people. Propaganda is a component of military deception and is an essential tool of hybrid warfare.   Military conflicts, Crimean scenario, international security system, asymmetric warfare, military-technical revolution, hybrid war, cyber war;