Proxy War Ethics: The Norms of Partnering in Great Power Competition

While proxy relationships can be an effective means international actors use to transfer risk and lower their costs to compete, they also enable actors to circumvent international norms as well as create moral hazards that can make the practice self-defeating if not simply unethical. Applying the framework of the Just War Tradition, this book highlights some of these ethical gaps and addresses how proxy relationships introduce additional obligations for both sponsor and proxy. The author examines specific examples of how current precedents set a very high bar for accountability, and perversely incentivizes sponsors to employ proxies while discouraging any effort to moderate proxy behavior since that could imply effective control. In light of this, the book offers policy recommendations on how to best manage these relationships while maintaining certain moral commitments.

DR. C. Anthony Pfaff (Colonel, U.S. Army, Ret.) is Research Professor for Strategy, the Military Profession and Ethics at the Strategic Studies Institute, Senior Non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, and Distinguished Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy. Dr. Pfaff has previously served on the National Security Council where he was the Director for Iraq and the State Department’s Policy and Planning Staff where he advised on cyber and regional military affairs.