Hybrid Threats in Baltics and Taiwan: Commonalities, Risks and Lessons for Small Democracies

  • 2022-01-20
  • The Latvian Institute of International Affairs

In cooperation with the Taipei Mission in the Republic of Latvia, the Latvian Institute of International Affairs within the Asia program invites you to a public discussion and book presentation: "Hybrid Threats in Baltics and Taiwan: Commonalities, Risks and Lessons for Small Democracies," held on January 20, 2022, online!

Download your PDF version at www.liia.lv.

The year 2022 brings the globe into a period of what could be described with the oxymoron "stable uncertainty". Societies around the world are adapting to living their lives and making decisions against the backdrop of the ever-developing COVID-19 pandemic, and the constant lingering feeling of not knowing what tomorrow holds is neither new nor shocking anymore. The conundrum of "stable uncertainty", however, exacerbates and facilitates other diverse challenges, to which we commonly refer as hybrid threats.

The Baltics as well as Taiwan have been facing uncertainties caused by risks to political legitimacy, societal resilience, critical infrastructure, energy security, and cyber security long before the world went into lockdown – and long enough to have developed a certain resilience.

It is a resilience that stems from unique, but translatable experiences of small, yet resourceful democracies. The goal of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs publication is to take stock of these experiences and their regional manifestations, to draw parallels between the threats that caused them, to map the risks we're still facing, and to present wider lessons based both on the successes and tribulations of the Baltic states and Taiwan. The volume is designed to provide an overview of how the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on one side and Taiwan on the other face, combat and conceptualize hybrid threats.

The project is supported by the Taipei Mission in the Republic of Latvia.