Read more
In
Subversion, Lennart Maschmeyer presents an innovative new theory of an age-old concept. This pioneering study explains why subversion offers great strategic promise in theory but also faces an set of challenges that limit its strategic value in practice. Contrasting the KGB's traditional subversion campaign after the Prague Spring with Russia's current--and less successful--efforts to use cyber tools to subvert Ukraine, Maschmeyer's findings challenge current fears of cyberwar and effectively show that traditional subversion remains the more potent threat.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Subversion and Power
- Chapter 2: Information Technology and Subversion
- Chapter 3: Traditional Subversion: Crushing the Prague Spring 1968-1973
- Chapter 4: Cyber-Enabled Subversion: Russia's 'Hybrid War' against Ukraine 2013-2018
- Chapter 5: Subversion in War: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine 2022
- Subversion, Evolved: New Possibilities and New Perils
- Bibliography
About the author
Lennart Maschmeyer is a senior researcher in cybersecurity at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich. He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and an MPhil from the University of Oxford. His work has been published in International Security, the European Journal of International Relations, and the Journal of Information Technology and Politics and has received wide news coverage.
Summary
In Subversion, Lennart Maschmeyer provides a powerful new theory and analysis of an age-old concept. While a strategy of subversion offers great strategic promise in theory, it faces an underappreciated set of challenges that limit its strategic value in practice. Drawing from two major cases--the KGB's use of traditional subversion methods to crush the Prague Spring in 1968 and Russia's less successful use of cyberwarfare against Ukraine since 2014--Maschmeyer demonstrates both the benefits and weaknesses of the approach. While many believe that today's cyber-based subversion campaigns offer new strategic opportunities, they also come with their own challenges. Because of these disadvantages, cyber operations continue to fall short of expectations--most recently in the Russo-Ukrainian war. By showing that traditional subversion methods remain the more potent threat, Subversion forces us to reconsider our fears of the subversive potential of cyberwar.
Additional text
Lennart Maschmeyer's work effectively reflects the way in which the actors of international relations act in this social space of secrecy located at the intersection of the internal and international fields.
