# Hybrid Warfare: Democracies Facing a Historical Challenge

> Hybrid warfare waged by state and non-state actors poses an existential challenge to Western democracies. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) have spent three years identifying strategies and operational means to counter this phenomenon. The two organizations have now published Defending Europe Against Hybrid Warfare, a new research report offering an innovative strategy that combines operational measures to reinforce resilience and deterrent countermeasures.

Source: https://ras-nsa.ca/en/event/hybrid-warfare-democracies-facing-a-historical-challenge/
Modified: 2026-10-29

*This event will be held in French*

The European security environment is evolving rapidly. Hybrid warfare waged by state and non-state actors poses an existential challenge to Western democracies—ranging from election disinformation and cyberattacks to assassination attempts and the deployment of uncrewed vehicles.

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) have spent three years identifying strategies and operational means to counter this phenomenon.

The two organizations have now published *Defending Europe Against Hybrid Warfare*, a new research report offering an innovative strategy that combines resilience and deterrence, operational measures to reinforce resilience, and deterrent countermeasures.

**Dr. Julien Théron**, Researcher in Hybrid Threats, Defense, and External Security at the JRC, coordinator of this project, and lead author of the report, will be at UQAM to present its findings. The presentation will be followed by a discussion led by **Prof. Simon Hogue**, as well as a Q&A session.

**Biography:**

**Dr. Julien Théron** is a political scientist specializing in conflict and international security. His research focuses on complex conflicts, foresight, adaptation, cognition, and strategy, backed by extensive field experience in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Kosovo, and Ukraine. He has worked for the French government (Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Armed Forces, INSP), the European Union (EC), and the United Nations (UNHCR). He has also collaborated with the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), and is a former Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS, Ministry of Defence). He has taught at universities in Budapest (BME), Beirut (USJ, USEK), Versailles (UVSQ), and Paris (Nanterre, Panthéon-Assas). He is currently a Hybrid Threats Researcher at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and a lecturer in war studies at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po. Among other publications, he co-authored *Poutine, la stratégie du désordre* (Tallandier, 2021) and co-edited *Russia’s War on Ukraine: The Implications for the Global Nuclear Order* (Springer, 2023).