An adaptive hybrid control method and apparatus are provided for performing active queue management in a data packet routing device which adaptively combines fuzzy controller logic, alone or in combination with RBF-PID control logic, to provide improved management of network congestion by applying a nonlinear model for buffer utilization to at least a buffer size measure for the target buffer to generate at least a fuzzy membership function adjustment signal, and then supplying the fuzzy membership function adjustment signal to a first controller to automatically tune membership function parameters of the first controller, where the first controller calculates a first packet select probability value for the data packet based at least partly on the fuzzy membership function adjustment signal and an error measure between the buffer size setpoint and the buffer size measure.