No time to lose: Liberal democracies can win the cognitive and hybrid war against authoritarians

The briefing asserts that authoritarian regimes, specifically Russia, China, and Iran, are using hybrid warfare to undermine trust in democratic institutions and divide liberal societies. It argues that current government responses are too siloed and reactive, failing to deliver results. To counter this, the author proposes three strategic pillars: establishing a comprehensive counter-hybrid doctrine that includes asymmetric and offensive capabilities, reorganizing government structures to enable holistic coordination and multi-stakeholder coalitions, and prioritizing strategic communications to outcompete authoritarian narratives both domestically and internationally.

• Authoritarian regimes, including Russia, China, and Iran, have significantly increased their use of hybrid warfare over the last decade. In the EU, these attacks since February 2022 have ranged from cyber and information operations to kinetic actions such as sabotage, arson, and targeted killings.
• The primary objective of hybrid attacks—including deepfakes, ransomware, and drone incursions—is to manipulate citizens' psyches to erode trust in democratic governance, political parties, and international institutions like NATO and the EU.
• Democracies are vulnerable to cognitive warfare due to an overreliance on digital infrastructure dominated by companies from the United States and China, which allows authoritarians to exploit algorithmic systems and AI data voids to cause epistemic corrosion.
• Current defensive strategies in democracies are criticized as being too tactical and siloed across different departments, failing to raise the costs for adversaries or systematically prevent the impacts of hybrid threats.
• The document recommends a new counter-hybrid doctrine that includes a willingness to use flexible, asymmetric responses and the development of offensive capabilities to neutralize sources of warfare in authoritarian countries.
• To improve coordination, the author suggests appointing a lead agency or policy coordinator for hybrid threats and establishing a 'Hybrid Warfare War Room' involving the military-industrial complex, banks, think tanks, and academic institutions.
• Democracies are urged to improve strategic communications by consistently attributing hybrid operations to specific actors, highlighting the human costs of these attacks, and empowering civil society messengers like mayors and faith-based leaders.

APA

Institute for Strategic Dialogue (2026). No time to lose: Liberal democracies can win the cognitive and hybrid war against authoritarians. https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/no-time-to-lose-liberal-democracies-can-win-the-cognitive-and-hybrid-war-against-authoritarians/

Chicago

Institute for Strategic Dialogue. No time to lose: Liberal democracies can win the cognitive and hybrid war against authoritarians. 2026. https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/no-time-to-lose-liberal-democracies-can-win-the-cognitive-and-hybrid-war-against-authoritarians/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Strategic Dialogue |title=No time to lose: Liberal democracies can win the cognitive and hybrid war against authoritarians |date=12 February 2026 |url=https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/no-time-to-lose-liberal-democracies-can-win-the-cognitive-and-hybrid-war-against-authoritarians/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforstrategicdialogue2026time, author = {{Institute for Strategic Dialogue}}, title = {{No time to lose: Liberal democracies can win the cognitive and hybrid war against authoritarians}}, institution = {Institute for Strategic Dialogue}, year = {2026}, month = feb, url = {https://www.isdglobal.org/digital-dispatch/no-time-to-lose-liberal-democracies-can-win-the-cognitive-and-hybrid-war-against-authoritarians/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }