6 March 2019

Twenty-First Century Proxy Warfare: Confronting Strategic Innovation in a Multipolar World

By: Candace RondeauxDavid Sterman

New America, as part of its partnership with Arizona State University, has embarked on a multiyear research project on twenty-first century proxy warfare. This report is the first in a series on conflicts in the Greater Middle East and its periphery that will be published as part of the project. This study highlights research gaps and reconceptualizes proxy warfare as a strategy that relies on third-party armed forces that lie outside the constitutional order of rival states engaged overtly or covertly in armed conflict. The analysis draws on a broad review of the existing literature and conversations with more than three dozen policymakers, researchers, and practitioners from July to October 2018. The analysis is also informed by discussions during a workshop on the subject of proxy warfare held by New America in coordination with Arizona State University and the Omran Center for Strategic Studies in Istanbul, Turkey, featuring more than 35 journalists, analysts, and former policymakers.

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