2022 Fall Conference

PARTNERS, PROXIES, AND PEER COMPETITION: DOWNSTREAM CONSEQUENCES OF SECURITY COOPERATION

As states strive to maximize their own security in competition with other states, they often work with and through state and non-state partners and proxies — actors with various degrees of aligned interests and levels of hierarchical subordination. Examples abound during the Cold War, Global War on Terror, and in the contemporary period of Great Power Competition, as well as in relational dynamics that are less US-centric (e.g., power dynamics in the MENA and Western Asia regions).

What are the lessons learned from these types of relationships? Specifically, are these types of relationships conducive to 1st-order goals such as the maximization of a state’s security? And what are the downstream implications in terms of security, governance and human security in the partners and proxies?