Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Iran’S New Interventionism: Reconceptualizing Proxy Warfare In The Post-Arab Spring Middle East, Emmet Hollingshead

Political Science Honors Projects

Iranian proxy groups in the Middle East pose a continuing challenge to stability, American interests, and peaceful self-governance in the region. From a strategic standpoint, Iran’s innovative use of proxy groups to pursue their political and military interests has proven difficult to understand and respond to within a comprehensive framework. This paper will argue in favor of reviving and modifying the ‘new wars’ literature as a theoretical framework for understanding Iranian proxy groups and regional interests. It analyses Iranian actions in fostering relationships with non-state actors in the region as an extension of the state into ‘new wars’ dynamics and …