Speaker
Description
In today’s multipolar and interconnected world, states often use surrogates in order to pursue their interests and expand their influence, while staying underneath the threshold of direct conventional war with a great power competitor. This paper proposes a conceptualization of surrogates that includes all human actors that patrons, who can be both state or non-state actors, delegate some or all of the burden of warfare to. Surrogates could thus be other states, non-state actors, or private military companies.
The paper will then explore how surrogates can be used for strategic advantage in a military intervention in the context of great power competition. The idea of victory in great power competition, and what strategies may lead to success will be analysed, as well as different strategies and approaches great powers use to compete with one another, such as gray zone warfare or hybrid warfare. The concept will be applied to the case of the great power competition between the US and Russia, looking specifically at their use of surrogates in the conflicts Ukraine and Syria. Their grand strategy as well as their goals and strategies in great power competition with one another will be studied, as well their use of surrogates to achieve said goals.
| What discipline or branch of humanities or social sciences do you identify yourself with? | Defence Studies |
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| If you are submitting an Open Panel proposal, have you included all four abstracts in attachment? | No, I am submitting a Closed Panel abstract |
| Are you a PhD student or early-career researcher? | Yes |
