Proxy Wars from a Global Perspective: Non-State Actors and Armed Conflicts

Proxy warfare is a growing international phenomenon. Although states have used proxies in armed conflicts for centuries, evolving regional and global security architecture is now forcing states to radically change the way contemporary conflicts are fought. Based on ten case studies, this reassesses exactly how these changing global and systemic factors are shaping the ways in which states use non-state actors as proxies in their armed conflicts. Examining the use of proxy warfare worldwide, focusing on the last decade's conflicts, this volume brings together contributions from scholars of international relations and global security studies in order to explore cases of armed conflict of particular regional and global significance. These include recent developments in the conflict in Israel and Palestine, the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, Central Asia, Syria, Ukraine, Nagorno-Karabakh, Brazil and Yemen. By drawing on both theory and practise, it offers a re-evaluation of contemporary understanding of "outsourced warfare", with policy implications for how we understand and negotiate with states using proxy warfare in the future.

Table of Contents:
List of Abbreviations List of Tables Contributors Introduction: The Necessity for a Global Perspective on Proxy Warfare Pawel Bernat, Cüneyt Gürer, Cyprian Aleksander Kozera Part I - Theoretical and Historical Framework 1. Toward Conceptualization of Contemporary Proxy Warfare Pawel Bernat; Cyprian Aleksander Kozera 2. US Proxy Warfare's New and Complex Paradigm Richard D. Newton 3. States and Non-State Actors Interacting in Conflict: Explaining State Use of Proxies Cüneyt Gürer Part II - Proxy Forces in Various Theaters of Armed Conflicts: Case Studies 4. Russian Proxy Use in the Hybrid War Ukraine before the 2022 Invasion Pawel Bernat, Viacheslav Semenenko, Pavlo Openko and Daniel Michalski 5. Ukraine's Legionnaires in the War against Russia Tamir Sinai 6. Insurgencies in Africa and the Middle East and the Future of the Proxy Warfare in the Region Jeffrey Kaplan 7. Proxy Warfare in Mali: New Rendition of Divide et Impera and Cautious French Saviorism Cyprian Aleksander Kozera 8. The Bifurcation of Violence: The Proxy Forces in the Central African Republic Blazej Poplawski 9. Libya: Fragmentation of the Country amid a Proxy War Mehmet Alper Sözer; Emirhan Darcan 10. The Spheres of Influence: Multiple Proxy Wars in Syria Engin Yüksel 11. Iran's Hybrid Proxy Warfare through Palestinian Terrorism against Israel Ori Wertman and Christian Kaunert 12. The Conflict in Yemen through the Prism of Proxy War James K. Wither 13. When Proxies Win: The Impact of the Taliban's Changing Fortune on Pakistan's Leverage Tova Norlen and Vinay Kaura Part III - Proxy Wars –The Emergence of a New Paradigm? 14. Transnational Organized Crime Groups as State Proxies. Ümit Namli and Cüneyt Gürer 15. The Salience of the New Proxy War Paradigm Graeme Herd Afterword Pawel Bernat, Cüneyt Gürer, Cyprian Aleksander Kozera

About the Author :
Cüneyt Gürer is Professor of Transnational Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies where his research focuses on transnational security issues, regional security dynamics, human displacement, and non-state actors in contemporary conflicts. Cyprian Aleksander Kozera is an expert at the Interdisciplinary Research Centre “Identity, Dialogue, Security” at the University of Warsaw, researcher in the Africa Research Institute, at Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary, and a member of the Polish Africanist Society. His research focuses on irregular and proxy warfare in Sub-Saharan Africa and he is a member of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies' Network. Pawel Bernat is Senior Lecturer at the Polish Air Force University where his research focuses on proxy and hybrid warfare and the militarization of outer space. He is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the journal Safety & Defense, and Vice-President of the Andarta Knowledge for Security Foundation.

Review :
Proxy Wars from a Global Perspective... takes on this monumental task and makes important contributions toward establishing a framework for studying conflict in the 21st century. Proxy Wars from a Global Perspective: Non-State Actors and Armed Conflict needs to be on the bookshelves at all military academies and special warfare centers across the world. The book advances the idea that definitions and understandings of proxy warfare from a bipolar era fail to explain the application of proxy warfare in modern conflict within a multipolar world. The authors provide recent definitions that seek to capture modern complexity while addressing the myriad of states' motivations to engage in proxy warfare. An important book about an important topic in important time that significantly contributes to IR literature. The Proxy War phenomenon is characterized and analyzed in this book by introducing 12 case studies that articulate the diversity of the phenomenon, where the first part of the book provides a broad conceptual and theoretical framework and the last chapter provides the main insights and theoretical dimensions of the case studies. A book that must be read by international relations and war studies scholars and those who seek to understand the importance of non-state actors and their influence on international order. Proxy Wars from a Global Perspective is a valuable contribution to international relations scholarship. It explores the multidimensional nature of proxy wars and examines their evolution from the Cold War to the 21st century's increasingly multipolar geopolitical environment. It also effectively sets boundaries between the local drivers of conflicts and the role of external powers in exacerbating them. The book's global scope, which spans from Ukraine to protracted conflicts in Africa, such as Mali and the Central African Republic, makes it an indispensable resource for international security professionals, academics and anyone interested in global conflicts. As a practitioner with extensive experience in Afghanistan, Europe, the Middle East and Africa over the last decade, I found the case studies discussed in this volume offer the reader a unique window into the world of irregular warfare as I experienced it firsthand. The proxy paradigm the authors developed will help both theorists and practitioners understand better today's changed geostrategic landscape. This is a much-needed resource for national security professionals, academics, as well as the general public. “Proxy Wars from a Global Perspective” should be a required reading for both international relations theorists and those engaged in the fight. Proxy Wars from a Global Perspective provides a valuable contribution to proxy warfare academics and practitioners and is a good entry for those looking to understand the phenomenon. Whether it is in the classrooms of military academies and special warfare centers or on the nightstands of practitioners, this book deserves to be read.