International Scientific Conference Squaring the Circle : the New Global Dynamics (2026) [pp. 63-66]
AUTHOR(S) / AUTOR(I): Dejan Stojković 
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.46793/7067.3731.063S
ABSTRACT / SAŽETAK:
Cyber tools, artificial intelligence, hypersonic missiles, and space-based assets have moved to the center of how states project power — no longer secondary enablers but one of primary instruments of coercion. This raises a fundamental question: how does the classical logic of military coercion hold when its structural preconditions — legible attribution, deliberate timing, and predictable escalation — are systematically undermined?
Classical coercion theory assumed attribution was likely, deliberation was available, and escalation developed along recognizable lines. Disruptive technologies challenge all three simultaneously. This study traces those challenges through three structural mechanisms — cross-domain integration, compression of strategic time, and institutionalization of strategic ambiguity — and examines how three major military powers are adapting their coercive strategies accordingly.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT / PROJEKAT:
This article is the result of the work on the project “Prerequisites for the Optimal Implementation of the Total Defence Concept in the Republic of Serbia” (ISI/DH/1/26-28), funded by the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia and conducted by the Strategic Research Institute of the University of Defence in Belgrade.