ABSTRACT
Recent years have seen an increase in the use of hybrid threats from foreign and hostile actors towards democracies. Using a variety of tactics, these threats are detrimental to democracies themselves and put at the forefront of security threats within both NATO and the EU. Focusing on Europe and USA and soft (smart) tactics, this chapter gives an overview of the three most prominent dimensions of democracies: electoral, liberal and deliberative democracy. The three-legged theoretical framework is then used to separate between various hybrid threats and the democratic dimension and factors they seem to be targeting. Based on this knowledge, the chapter in the end suggest three aspects that need to be strengthened in order for viable democracies to protect themselves against these types of threats—public vigilance, judicial agility and media-control.
