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

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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.

Reviews

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. * Irregular Warefare Initiative *
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. -- Kobi Michael, The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Israel
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 -- Samuel Ramani, University of Oxford, UK
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 todays 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. -- Retired Maj. Gen. Barre R. Seguin, Director, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
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. -- J. David Thompson, Kings College London, UK * Irregular Warfare Initiative *

Author Bio

Cneyt Grer 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 buda 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.