https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1352-5263
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ABSTRACT
Contemporary civil conflicts are increasingly inter- and trans-nationalized: distinctive conflict dynamics extend beyond the boundaries of the respective states and are exposed to foreign involvement, in different forms. Within this trend stands the often mentioned but yet to be fully grasped role of non-state actors, referred to as, among others, proxies, mercenaries, militias (pro-government or not), or insurgents. The article revises the debate on sponsor-proxy relations from a twofold standpoint. First, it connects sponsor-proxy dynamics with current systemic changes by treating the MENA region as an example of a decentered multipolar system. Second, it examines sponsor-proxy dynamics by engaging in a conversation with scholarship on (armed) non-state actors. To do so, the article applies the sponsor-proxy analytical framework to the case studies of the relationship between Iran and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq, and between Turkey and the Syrian National Army (SNA) in Syria. The main argument is that the two cases show a peculiar pattern of sponsor-proxy dynamics, one that is influenced by proxy plurality and competitiveness, on the one hand, and by the political relevance of proxies besides their military role.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Eugenio Cusumano for his comments on earlier draft of this research article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Marshall, “From Civil War,” 183.
2. Rauta, ‘‘Framers, Founders,” 2.
3. Ibid., 5.
4. Deutsch, “External Involvement,” 102.
5. Dunér, “Proxy Intervention”; Bar-Siman-Tov, “The Strategy”; Deutsch, “External Involvement”; and Rauta, “Framers, Founders.”
6. Marshall, “From Civil War”; and Rauta, ‘‘Framers, Founders.”
7. Hughes, ”Syria and the Perils of Proxy Warfare”; Juneau, “Iran’s Policy”; Phillips and Valbjørn, ”What Is in a Name?”; Arif, “Iran’s Struggle”; Harchaoui and Lazib, “Proxy War”; Stark, The Monarchs’ Pawns; Grant and Kaussler, “The Battle”; and Leenders and Giustozzi, “Outsourcing State.”
8. de Soysa, “Proxy Wars”; and Rauta, “Towards a Typology.”
9. Mumford, “Proxy Warfare,” 40.
10. Ibid., 40.
11. Groh, Proxy war, 3.
12. Randall, “Financial Order”; and Gamble, “A New World.”
13. Maher, “The paradox of American.”
14. The article adopts the concept of polarity from the neorealist tradition as a structural element of the international system. It defines how power is distributed within the international system, and according to the neorealist theory, how mechanisms like the balance of power or security dilemma function. In the case study, the distribution of power is related to the ME region. On the notion of polarity, see De Keersmaeker, Polarity. On the current Middle East polarity, see Kamrava, “Multipolarity.”
15. Buzan, The United States and the Great Powers; Nederveen, “Global Rebalancing”; and Acharya, Regional worlds.
16. Katzenstein, A World of Regions.
17. Hannes and Flemes, “Rethinking Regional.”
18. Garzón, “Multipolarity.”
19. Del Sarto, Malmvig, and Lecha, Interregnum.
20. Yeşiltaş and Kardaş, Non-State Armed Actors.
21. Donelli and Cannon, “Power Projection.”
22. Friedman and Berman, “Reclaiming.”
23. Kardaş, “The Transformation.”
24. Yossef, “Upgrading Iran”; and Azizi, “The Concept.”
25. Ahmadian and Mohseni, “Iran’s Syria,” 5.
26. Ostovar, “Iran, Its Clients.”
27. Knights, “The Future of Iraq,” 52.
28. Sert, “Turkey Has Embraced.”
29. Itani and Stein, “Turkey’s Syria.”
30. Hinnebusch, “Back to Enmity.”
31. Groh, Proxy war, 28.
32. Salt, “Turkey and Syria.”
33. Tastekin, “Who are Turkish-backed forces in latest Syria incursion?” Al-Monitor, 13 October 2019, URL: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2019/10/turkey-syria-kurds-militias-in-operation-peace-spring.html#ixzz6xOGfh62u (accessed 5 June 2021).
34. Altunısik, “The New Turn.”
35. Haugom, “Turkish Foreign.”
36. Carpenter, “Tangled Web”; and Parlar Dal, “Impact of the Transnationalization.”
37. D’Alema, “The Evolution.”
38. Atamanc and Özdemir, “Turkey’s Syria.”
39. Hazbun, “Regional Powers”; and Beck and Richter, “Fluctuating Regional.”
40. Moghadam and Wyss, “The Political Power,” 119.
41. Ibid.
42. Juneau, “Iran’s Policy”; and Saad, “Challenging the Sponsor.”
43. See note 9 above.
44. Innes, Making Sense, xiii.
45. Groh, Proxy war.
46. Ibid.
47. Costantini, Statebuilding; Sayigh, “Hybridizing Security”; Badi, “Exploring Armed”; Ahram, “Hybrid Security”; and Ardemagni, Nagi, and Transfed, “Shuyyukh, Policemen.”
48. Aliyev, “Strong Militias.”
49. Ahram and Lust, “The Decline.”
50. Zohar, “A New Typology.”
51. See note 45 above.
52. Haddad, “Iraq’s Popular.”
53. See note 26 above.
54. Arif, “Iran’s Struggle.”
55. See note 26 above.
56. Mansour, “Networks of Power,” 21.
57. Knights, Malik, and Al-Tamimi, “Honored, Not,” 21.
58. Mansour, “Networks of Power,” 3.
59. Arif, “Iran’s Struggle,” 8.
60. Mansour, “Networks of Power,” 4.
61. Phillips and Valbjørn, ”What Is in a Name?”; and Yüksel, “Strategies of Turkish.”
62. Hoffman and Alsarraj, “The Syrian Political.”
63. Hinnebusch and Saouli, The War for Syria.
64. Yetim and Kaşıkcı, “Re-Adapting to Changing.”
65. Hamad, “Why Is the Free.”
66. The Syrian Interim Government, formed by National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, claims to be the legitimate government on behalf of the Syrian opposition. URL: https://en.etilaf.org/
67. Yüksel, “Strategies of Turkish.”
68. Yüksel, “Turkey’s Approach.”
69. See note 67 above.
70. Özkizilcik, “Uniting the Syrian.”
71. Ibid.
72. Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı (National Intelligence Organization).
73. Yüksel, “Turkey’s Approach”; and Kasapoglu, “The Syrian National.”
74. Al-Tamimi, “From Jabhat.”
75. Tokyay, “Sochi 2.0: How will new Turkey, Russia deal play out on the ground?” Arab News, 5 March 2020. URL: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1637431/middle-east (accessed 5 June 2021).
76. Al Kanj, “Reviewing the Turkey”; and Hoover, “A Long Game.”
77. van Leeuwen and van Veen, “Turkey in Northwestern.”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Irene Costantini
Irene Costantini is a Research Fellow at Università Orientale in Naples. She holds a PhD from the University of Trento (School of International Studies). Her research interests include the politics of international interventions in conflict-affected contexts and post-conflict transition, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa region. She has been teaching and/or researching, among else, at the Austrian Institute of International Affairs (Austria), the University of Bologna (Italy), the Middle East Research Institute (Erbil, Iraq), and the University of York (UK). She published in various academic journals, including, International Peacekeeping, Ethnicities, Ethnopolitics, Conflict, Security & Development, and she is the author of Statebuilding in the Middle East and North Africa: the aftermath of regime change (Routledge, 2018).
Federico Donelli
Federico Donelli is a postdoc research fellow in International Relations at the University of Genoa, Department of Political Sciences, where he teaches Politics of the Middle East, and Adjunct Professor in International Politics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. His research fields have covered international politics and security studies of the Middle East region, focusing on the foreign policy of the different players. Currently he is working on the process of militarization of the Red Sea and the growing engagement of the Middle Eastern states in the Eastern African region. Among his latest works ‘Crossing Roads: The Middle East’s Security Engagement in the Horn of Africa’ in Global Change, Peace & Security; ‘Asymmetric alliances and high polarity: evaluating regional security complexes in the Middle East and Horn of Africa’ in Third World Quarterly; and ‘Fluctuating Saudi and Emirati Alignment Behaviours in the Horn of Africa’ in The International Spectator. He has recently published the book Turkey in Africa. Turkey’s Strategic Involvement in Sub-Saharan Africa (London-New York: IB Tauris).