Over the last two decades, the United States has supported a range of militias, rebels, and other armed groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Critics have argued that such partnerships have many perils, from enabling human rights abuses to seeding future threats. Policy makers, however, have sought to mitigate the risks of partnering with irregular armed groups. Militia group leaders in far-flung corners of these war-torn countries were subjected to background checks and instructed about international law and human rights, and their funding was cut when they crossed red lines. To what extent have such mechanisms curbed the dangers of proxy warfare, and what unforeseen consequences has this approach unleashed?
Drawing on a decade of field research and hundreds of interviews with stakeholders, Erica L. Gaston unpacks the dilemmas of attempting to control proxy forces. She demonstrates that, although the tools U.S. policy makers used to constrain partners' behavior increased in number and sophistication, they never fully addressed the range of political, security, and legal concerns surrounding these forces. Moreover, by shifting policy makers' calculations, the use of proxy forces introduced additional moral hazards and may have enabled riskier decision making. Featuring substantial empirical detail and close analysis of key internal debates, Illusions of Control offers new perspectives on some of the most significant and controversial elements of recent U.S. security policy. In addition to nuanced insights about proxy relationships, this book provides a novel analytical toolkit for exploring transnational bargaining and foreign policy deliberations in hybrid political environments.
By:
Erica L. Gaston
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780231210133
ISBN 10: 0231210132
Series: Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare
Pages: 424
Publication Date: 30 July 2024
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface: On the Heels of Militia Mobilization List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. Theoretical Framework: Agency Theory Versus Foreign Policy Analysis 2. Bargaining Moments and Structures: Comparing the Sons of Iraq and the Afghan Local Police 3. Searching for Unicorns: Risk Mitigation in the Internal and External Policy Deliberations Over Syrian Armed Groups 4. Standard Operating Procedures and Exceptions to the Rule: Organizational Lenses and Bureaucratic Transfer, from Local Force Initiatives to Counterterrorism Auxiliaries 5. Change Over Time: Transnational Networks, the Leahy Law, and Human Rights Checks for Local and Substate Forces 6. Foreign Players in the Mix: Direct and Indirect Bargaining and Influence Strategies by Non-U.S. Governments Conclusion Acknowledgments Bibliography Notes Index
Erica L. Gaston is senior policy advisor and head of the Conflict Prevention and Sustaining Peace Programme at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a nonresident fellow at both the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Global Public Policy Institute.
Reviews for Illusions of Control: Dilemmas in Managing U.S. Proxy Forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria
This book is a grim but necessary autopsy of America’s policy failures. The U.S. believed it could manage the risks of recruiting militias as proxy forces in the Middle East. With intrepid field research, extensive interviews, and sharp analytical thinking, Gaston shows why these efforts often proved ineffective or counterproductive. -- Ariel I. Ahram, author of <i>Break all the Borders: Separatism and the Reshaping of the Middle East</i> For years, Erica Gaston has been a leading fieldwork researcher on paramilitary groups, militias, local governance, and violent internal conflicts. Her impressive on-the-ground research, running from Afghanistan to Iraq and beyond, has often revealed crucial dynamics escaping established policy. Her excellent book masterfully marries this unbeatable ground-truth knowledge with new insights. Once again, it fiercely challenges established policy dogma, but, as always, does so with nuance, objectivity and deep appreciation for regional variation. -- Vanda Felbab-Brown, Director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
