Sovereignty under pressure: hybrid threats and security vulnerabilities in Kosovo – Serbia dynamics

This study examines how hybrid interference, including disinformation, cyberattacks, economic pressure, and political manipulation, affects Kosovo’s sovereignty, democratic consolidation, and Euro-Atlantic integration. Focusing on Serbia-linked activities, it explores how contested statehood, institutional weaknesses, societal polarization, and interethnic tensions create vulnerabilities that can constrain Kosovo’s autonomy. Using a qualitative single-case design, the study combines five semi-structured expert interviews with documentary and secondary-source analysis. Findings suggest that Kosovo’s unresolved sovereignty status and asymmetric relationship with Serbia increase exposure to hybrid pressure, while cooperation with NATO and the EU provides partial protection. The analysis further shows that hybrid interference is most effective when external instruments interact with domestic institutional, informational, and structural vulnerabilities. The study advances testable hypotheses linking hybrid instruments, vulnerability mediators, counter-hybrid capacity, and sovereignty outcomes, and proposes a Kosovo-centred framework that conceptualizes sovereignty as relational, vulnerability-dependent, and suitable for further comparative testing in fragile and partially recognized political settings elsewhere.