|
|
2021 Taliban Takeover: Defeat of the Afghan National Security Forces through the lens of proxy warfare theory
Bělohlávek, Dalibor ; Michálek, Luděk (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
The war in Afghanistan conflict represents the longest engagement the United States has ever been involved in, and despite significant resource allocation and loss of life, the nation-building effort eventually failed. The most salient representation of the entire Afghan experience was the rapid collapse of the Afghan National Army. Despite the years of training by the Western forces and the resources poured into it, after the United States withdrew it rapidly collapsed and was defeated by Taliban forces. This thesis aims to examine the relationship between the United States and the Afghan National Army within the context of proxy warfare theory, drawing lessons that can be applied to future conflicts of a similar nature. Firstly, this study delineates the evolving nature of 21st-century warfare and underlines why it is essential for the U.S. to acknowledge these changes, acquiring valuable insights to better navigate future challenges. To this end, the research scrutinizes the Afghan conflict, which is not typically perceived as a classic case of proxy warfare. Using the perspectives of four different proxy warfare theorists, each with distinctive approaches, common characteristics of proxy warfare are distilled and applied to analyze the case of the Afghan National Army and its relationship with...
|
|
|
Russian proxy or rogue mercenary army? Situating the Wagner Group
Sutherland, Matthew Donald ; Bureš, Oldřich (advisor) ; Aliyev, Huseyn (referee)
The Wagner Group is an umbrella term referring to a network of mercenary groups, extraction companies, and political strategists linked to the Kremlin by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Wagner has spread throughout Africa, the Middle East, and South America. Characterized by obscured activities and denied by the Kremlin, Wagner escapes conventional definitions of a Private Military and Security Company (PMSC) in both practice and theory. The pervasive labelling of Wagner as a "PMC" makes it difficult to effectively engage with the group at either an academic or policy level. Therefore, a scholarship situating Wagner in relation to PMSC literature would provide a platform to address Wagner across academic and political platforms. This project aims to fill that gap by situating Wagner in relation to current PMSC and mercenary literature. This will be accomplished by an extensive review of the current literature, followed by synthesizing PMSC definitions and categories that are relevant into the contemporary field. Once this has been established a comparative analysis of a variety of the Wagner Group's global activities will allow us to assess where Wagner sits amongst these definitions and categories. Addressing this gap in the literature will provide a new and effective platform for engaging with Wagner...
|
|
|
Suppressing violence or promoting destabilization? Analysis of Principal-Agent relationships to achieve different goals: Cases of Iran and Israel
Bora, Daniel ; Doboš, Bohumil (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
Nowadays, the theory of proxy warfare receives more and more attention. However, it is not an entirely new phenomenon. Recent conflicts in Syria and Yemen got proxy warfare to the forefront of academic and public interest. This thesis aims to describe the existing proxy relationships in the area of the Middle East and analyze those relations from the perspectives of an actor's motivation to forge such a relationship and management of the proxy. The principal-agent (p-a) analysis is the approach that allows us to do that. We apply this approach to three case studies. In the first case study, we analyze the principal-agent relationship between Iran and Hezbollah. In this relationship, we can observe a high alignment of interests, and therefore it should be a textbook example of the p-a relationship. In the second case study, we focus on the relationship between Israel and Hamas. However, it may seem like there is no possibility these two actors will cooperate in any sense. We described that if "declared interests" (ideology) are put aside, both principal and agent can find a common pragmatic interest enabling them to establish the p-a relationship. The third case study analyzes Hamas as a hybrid actor, suggesting that one agent (Hamas) can be in the principal- agent relationship with two hostile...
|
|
|
Comparative analysis of proxies in the Syrian conflict
Janoš, Ondřej ; Doboš, Bohumil (advisor) ; Bahenský, Vojtěch (referee)
The thesis examines the engagement of the external actors in the Syrian civil war. It is focusing on five main internal actors of the conflict. Using the Heraclide method it is evaluating engagement intensity of the external actors in the conflict. Together with the examination of the external players engagement the thesis is also focusing on the relations ship between the external actor and his proxy group in Syria. I examine how the international players changed their strategy or proxy groups during the time.
|
guest ::
