Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 286
Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-5381-6113-5 • Hardback • September 2026 • $115.00 • (£88.00)
978-1-5381-6114-2 • eBook • September 2026 • $45.00 • (£35.00) (coming soon)
Armin Krishnan is an Associate Professor and the Director of Security Studies at East Carolina University. He has received his MA in Political Science from the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich and his MA in Intelligence and International Relations and PhD in Security Studies from Salford University in the UK. Krishnan previously taught in the Intelligence and National Security Studies program at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is the author of five books and many journal articles on novel aspects of contemporary warfare and international security, including military outsourcing, autonomous weapons systems, targeted killings, neurowarfare, and paramilitary operations. At ECU he teaches courses on intelligence, foreign policy, weapons of mass destruction, and national security.
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. The Strategic Debate
3. Covert Influence Operations
4. Violent Covert Measures
5. Gray Zone Conflict
6. Covert Attacks
7. Major Political Destabilization
8. Options for Defense
9. Conclusion: Are We in a New Cold War?
Bibliography
About the Author
Index
- The book provides a broad overview of the theories and practices associated with conflict short of war and covert operations.
- The book explores the full spectrum of ambiguous and covert measures that are used to destabilize countries, instead of focusing on only one specific aspect such as propaganda, covert influence, political warfare, or cyber warfare.
- The book clearly connects current techniques of influence and destabilization to Cold War precedents.
- The book covers hostile activities and practices short of war of both Russia and China (and to a lesser extent of Iran and others).
- The book includes a discussion of novel techniques such as cyber warfare and exotic high-tech weaponry (DEW, space- and weather warfare) in the context of covert destabilization.
- The book tries to apply the lessons of the Cold War and suggests potential solutions for countering covert and ambiguous measures designed to weaken the U.S. over time.
- The book discusses COVID-19 as a potential act of economic warfare against the United States.