Third-year Political Science students at Universidad Cardenal Herrera–CEU worked throughout September, October, and November alongside students from the College of Staten Island (CUNY, New York) on a joint project examining the United Nations’ response to hybrid threats in today’s context of global democratic decline.
A COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) initiative is a collaborative learning methodology that connects students from universities in different countries to work together on a shared project without the need to travel. Through online sessions, joint activities, and teamwork, students exchange perspectives, compare realities, and develop global competencies while applying course content in a real international setting.
This is precisely what UCH-CEU professors Susana Sanz and Almudena Del Castillo, together with professors Jane Marcus-Delgado and Valeria Belmonti from the College of Staten Island (CUNY), carried out within the framework of the Public International Law course, with the invaluable collaboration of students from both institutions.
The project took place as part of a MICINN-funded research initiative on the rule-of-law crisis in the EU, as well as a new GVA-funded project (CIAICO/2024/191) on the crisis of European values and identity and resilience against hybrid threats —led by Prof. Sanz. It consisted of two plenary online sessions involving both institutions, complemented by several autonomous work sessions in which students collaborated directly with their peers in New York.
To organize the work, the 48 participating students formed 10 mixed groups, each composed of students from both institutions, with the aim of analyzing different types of hybrid threats.
Specifically, each group focused on one of the following hybrid threats: cyberattacks, lawfare, disinformation, sabotage operations, electoral interference, economic coercion, instrumentalization of migration, state-sponsored terrorism, organized crime, and industrial espionage.
The goal of the project was for each group to research and document a specific hybrid threat, critically and reflectively analyzing the UN’s response to these challenges and the bodies involved in their prevention. They were also tasked with proposing potential measures to strengthen the international community’s ability to address such risks.
The final product was presented in a video in which students showcased their creativity to address these issues using a dynamic and accessible format.
Thanks to their research, students reached several noteworthy conclusions. Among them, they highlighted the increasing presence of hybrid threats even in strong and consolidated democracies, a trend closely linked to factors such as technology, social media, and artificial intelligence. They also recognized the inherent complexity of analyzing these threats: far from being limited to well-known cyberattacks, hybrid threats encompass a much broader range of actions—from economic, political, or military pressure to humanitarian and social phenomena used to destabilize other regions.
Regarding the UN’s role, students acknowledged that despite its important contributions to combating hybrid threats, its effectiveness could be enhanced through concrete measures, such as promoting specific international treaties or strengthening the role of certain specialized bodies.
Ultimately, the experience proved to be especially enriching. It not only allowed students to delve into a complex and highly relevant topic such as hybrid threats, but the cultural exchange itself opened the door to a broader and more global perspective.
Throughout the project, they discovered how young people from other countries live, think, and study, while testing their ability to work collaboratively in a truly multicultural environment—an ideal combination of academic learning and personal growth.
If you’re interested in understanding how hybrid threats work and how they impact international security, we invite you to explore the videos created by UCH-CEU students. In them, the students offer a clear and accessible look at different examples of this phenomenon.
You can watch them here: COIL