In this book, Ariel Ahram offers a new perspective on a growing threat to international and human security—the reliance of 'weak states' on quasi-official militias, paramilitaries, and warlords.
Tracing the history of several "high profile" paramilitary organizations, including Indonesia's various militia factions, Iraq's tribal "awakening," and Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Basij corps, the book shows why and how states co-opt these groups, turning former rebels into state-sponsored militias. Building on an historical and comparative empirical approach that emphasizes decolonization, revolution, and international threat, the author offers a new set of policy prescriptions for addressing this escalating international crisis—with particular attention to strategies for mitigating the impact of this devolution of violence on the internal and international stability of states.

"Ahram builds and tests a theory to account for variations in the use of state-sponsored militias versus conventional armed forces among late-developing states, and offers a practical set of recommendations that acknowledge the salience of Proxy Warriors in the global security arena. An important read for both scholars and policy-makers." - U.S. Army War College

"Proxy Warriors offers a timely, insightful, and often contrarian look at how leaders in developing states use militias, gangs, and other substate actors. Ahram offers important findings that explain states' different approaches and provides fresh policy prescriptions for the international community to manage, or at times live with, this difficult problem." - Georgetown University

"Proxy Warriors by Ariel I. Ahram is a timely contribution to the literature of security devolution. Ahram has rich experiences for teaching and researching in global security and politics of the developing world . . . Proxy Warriors is well written and easy to read. It is a gap filler in the literature of state-sponsored militias and serves as a base for future studies in this field. In addition, Ahram should be commended for the way his work enhances and refines the general reader's understanding of state-sponsored militias." - Politics & Policy

"Proxy Warriors makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the devolution of state control over violence to non-state actors within the state. It demonstrates that, contrary to received wisdom, decentralization need not undermine a state's internal security or even the ability of a state to guard against external threats. Thus, late-developing states may well have workable alternative institutional arrangement to those of the developed world." - U.S. Naval War College