The Russian hybrid intelligence state: reconceptualizing the politicization of intelligence and the ‘intelligencization’ of politics / Jardar Ostbo

On the case of present-day Russia, this article proposes a novel way to conceptualize the intelligence-politics nexus, or else, the mutual politicization of intelligence and ‘intelligencization’ of politics. Recognizing the importance and salience of intelligence in Russia, the author criticizes the paradigm of the ‘KGB state’, arguing that rather than the FSB’s penetration and subsequent capture of the state, we see a symbiosis at work. Inspired by cognitive theories of conceptual integration, the article highlights qualitatively new phenomena that do not stem from either intelligence or state, but are hybrids consisting of more than the sum of the constituent parts. Rather than representing an anachronism or an aberration from the Western norm dictating a strict division of labour between intelligence and politics, the Russian hybrid intelligence state emerges as a postmodern phenomenon. As such, it can carry lessons for the analysis of intelligence-politics relations in other countries, too.