Abstract/Summary

This thesis builds on the existing work of proxy war scholars and practitioner experience to generate a broad theory of proxy war that rests on three pillars. First, two basic models of proxy war exist – traditional and technology diffusion models. Second, five basic relationship types materialize in contemporary proxy wars – exploited, coerced, transactional, cultural, and contractual. Third, one of two basic strategies animates proxy force utilization – deniability and minimalist. Those three factors work in unison with one another, changing as needed as conditions change in the conflict, but also externally within the international community, to affect a specific conflict’s character. In the end, I assert that those factors contribute to armed conflict becoming increasingly attritional, urban, and elongated. As the wars in Ukraine and Gaza continue, the paradigm of proxy war I have described becomes even more valid.