CHAPTER 1. ECONOMIC WARFARE AND CORROSIVE CAPITAL AS A SEPARATE THEATER OF COMBAT OPERATIONS IN HYBRID WAR 1.1. Correlation of types of economic confrontation and hybrid war International economic relations are a global domain of mutually beneficial existence and of confrontation. Analysis of expert materials in this field finds the use of a large set of definitions that include the word “economic”, such as economic competition, economic struggle, economic confrontation, economic war, economic opposition, and economic rivalry. It is very difficult to unambiguously arrange all these definitions according to a hierarchy that starts with initial stages and progresses to maximum escalation. And they can include one as part of another. Thus, the economic dictionary defines competition as “rivalry, struggle to achieve better results in the field of activity”2 The project analysts place all variants of economic confrontation within a spectrum that has “competition” and “war” at opposite ends, depending on two criteria: whether states are absent or present in such conflict, and the ultimate goal of the conflict, which can be economic or political. Economic competition is not for the purpose of political goals on its own, but involves a change in market conditions by a business entity for its own benefit. The role of the state at this level is absent, or minimal, in the form of protectionism in the interests of the national producer. Economic war is a social phenomenon in which a government uses economic measures to weaken the economy of another state. At the extreme pole of economic confrontation, it is conducted between antagonistic countries and involves the use of all possible types of “economic” weapons. Of course, in the middle of this spectrum there are many options for economic confrontation, which can be used even by allied states to influence each other's economies. In 2019, for example, Japan imposed export restrictions on a number of chemical components to South Korea, which were necessary for the production of semiconductors, due to alleged suspicion of having them forwarded as dual purpose goods to North Korea.3 What is the relationship between different types of economic confrontation and “hybrid war”? On the one hand, as mentioned above, the goal of hybrid war is the destruction or subjugation of the victim country, which can be achieved, among other ways, through the destruction of its economy. Economic war is the main tool of the aggressor country in the economic operational line. And this is understandable, since the maximum damage to the victim country can be inflicted by the maximum use of all possible types of “economic” weapons. On the other hand, as also mentioned above, the aggressor country is trying to hide its role during hybrid war as much as possible. Therefore, as an example, the initial measures of a hybrid aggressor in the economy of the victim country can be disguised as competition (while the real goals are further occupation of the country, which is hidden). Each of the stages of economic conflict may have signs of “hybrid threats”, the visibility of which increases with escalation, even though aggressors may wish to hide their culpability. The results of aggressive influence are
2
https://library.nlu.edu.ua/POLN_TEXT/KNIGI/KONDOR/EKONOMIC_SL_2006.pdf
3
https://focus.ua/uk/world/526164-tri-glavnye-problemy-v-otnosheniyah-yaponii-i-yuzhnoy-korei
IDENTIFYING AND ANALYZING CORROSIVE INVESTMENTS INTO UKRAINIAN ECONOMY AS AN ELEMENT OF THE HYBRID WARFARE
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