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

Download or read book Proxy War Ethics: The Norms of Partnering in Great Power Competition written by C. Anthony Pfaff and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2024-02-16 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.