Proxy war is a form of conflict in which large states back favored factions in a local civil war and engage in indirect military engagement with each other. Such conflicts are often a source of long-term conflict that undermines governance and destabilizes regions, and they have profound effects on civilian populations. They are also an inevitable result of great-power competition that has shaped international politics throughout history.
Proxies offer advantages over direct intervention. They are cheaper, can draw on local communities for intelligence and support, and are less likely to generate the nationalistic backlash that typically accompanies foreign interventions. They may even be more effective, especially if they are a guerrilla force, which blends in better with the terrain and is less likely to trigger a mass uprising against its patron.
To operate effectively under suboptimal conditions, however, an intervening state must understand how its proxy will act in different scenarios and must constantly monitor the proxy’s behavior as it interacts with a civilian population that it may ultimately govern. It also needs to limit the proxy’s autonomy, as it will naturally tend to apply its resources toward its own goals if given the chance to do so.
Despite its limitations, proxy warfare can be an important tool for intervening states. It is particularly suitable for situations that do not overtly threaten the intervening state’s vital interests, but where instability could spread to other states or regions and harm those interests.