The Soft Side of Dark Power: A Study in Soft Power, National Security and the Political-criminal Nexus ; with a Special Focus on the Post-Soviet Political-Criminal Nexus, the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Separatism in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

The author creates the first framework for the empirical analysis of soft power warfare. Soft power wars are fought inside human hearts and minds and are intricately interlinked with the most pivotal and intangible components of national security. The author shows that informal foreign policies aimed at the acquisition of power are not restricted to the realm of legitimacy. She presents the political-criminal nexus as a social structure through which states transform transnational organized crime into a foreign policy instrument. In a step-by-step analysis, the reader is shown how Russia's strategy of deterring Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration was effectuated by hostile soft power tactics aimed at promoting pro-Russian separatism in the autonomous Republic of Crimea. The strategy was supported by a Russia-centered, post-Soviet political-criminal nexus made up of intelligence services, government executives and non-governmental organizations.