Self-Defence and the Notion of Armed Attack in the Context of Hybrid Warfare: Accumulation of events; a hybrid solution to a hybrid problem.

This thesis explores the link between hybrid warfare and the notion of armed attack in that it asks the question of whether the notion of armed attack is competent to encompass hybrid warfare. The thesis is approached in two parts. In the first part, Chapter two describes the legal framework surrounding the notion of armed attack as a threshold in triggering the use of force in self defence. The third chapter moves on to explore the phenomenon of hybrid warfare, its origins and activities and to examine claims that utilising hybrid warfare exploits ambiguities in the armed attack framework. Part two then proceeds to analyse these claims by applying the law to hybrid warfare through two perspectives. Firstly, in chapter four, through an individual activities lens. And secondly, in chapter five, by taking all the activities together as a composite whole. Consequently, the thesis argues that the notion of armed attack is effective in encompassing hybrid warfare but only under a limited set of circumstances. Specifically, under the proviso that the international community recognise a ‘overall campaign’ approach to the doctrine of accumulation of events