En analys av rysk krigföring i Georgienkonflikten 2008 utifrån Full-Spectrum Conflict

Sammanfattning: The Russian way of conducting war has been a topic of discussion during a long time. Several theories have tried to conceptualize the Russians means and methods during conduct of war. Some claim one can describe it as hybrid warfare, some claim it is nothing new and others claim they have brought a theory which can describe it better than the hybrid concept. One of the new theories is the Full- Spectrum Conflict which tries to explain Russian actions during the conflict in 2014. Analysis using this theory could help to understand whether the actions by Russia against Georgia 2008 can be explained by this new theory. This would support the understanding of if the Russian way of conducting war is something new or if it is something they have been doing before the conflict in 2014. The aim of the study was to test the theory Full-Spectrum Conflict to investigate if Russia’s means and methods in Georgia can be understood by using this theory This was a conflict taking place earlier than 2014 but still in the modern era. The study design is a qualitative case-study examining the Russian actions during the conflict in Georgia. The result of this study shows that the theory Full-Spectrum Conflict can be applied to and explain the Russian actions in Georgia 2008. The result also shows that the Russian way of conducting war may not be anything new. Thus, the theory can be used to explain Russia’s action during conflicts. This may be of interest to the western nations in order to gain a better understanding of Russian actions in the future.