Strategic Relationships, Risk, and Proxy War

Abstract

Proxy wars dominate modern war fighting. Despite the frequency of proxy wars on today's battle field, the strategic studies community lacks sufficient models and strategic theories to frame proxy wars from the strategic level. This works seeks to build on the limited amount of preexisting theoretical work on proxy war by introducing five models of proxy relation - coerced, transactional, cultural, exploitative, and contractual. This models help policymakers, strategists, and practitioners understand and navigate through the strategic workings of today's proxy wars.