A proxy war is a special kind of war where two main countries don’t fight each other directly. Instead, they support smaller countries, rebel groups, armed movements or private military companies (mercenaries) to do the fighting for them. The aim is to hurt the opponent without starting a huge direct war between the powerful countries themselves. This strategy also helps them avoid the loss of life and the civilian risks associated with a direct war.
A key challenge in waging proxy war is that the intervening state needs to know its proxy well enough to keep its objectives aligned with those of the proxy over time. This requires continuous monitoring of the proxy’s access to resources, leadership capability and how the nature of the conflict in which they are engaged evolves over time. It also demands an ability to sustain policy coherence in the face of changing conditions, including those self-inflicted and beyond the control of the interventioning state.
Using proxies is often an attractive option when the civil war in another country overtly threatens a national security interest, or where it’s unlikely that the threat will disappear without a more direct intervention. However, for a range of reasons, most of which are related to the difficulty of achieving the desired objective with the available force, this approach is rarely the best course of action. Instead, it is more likely to cause humanitarian crises, regional destabilization and increased risks of escalation.