The study of how rival powers interact when they engage in proxy wars has generated many important insights, but the field remains fragmented. This article integrates these insights by offering a typological framework focused on interaction patterns among rival powers. The framework rests on two key choices rival powers face when conducting proxy interventions in third-party conflicts. The first is whether to support the same or opposing local warring parties; the second is whether to coordinate their in-theater activities. Combining these two dimensions yields four distinct interaction patterns, which we call (1) confrontation, (2) managed rivalry, (3) competitive influence-seeking, and (4) tacit alignment. The article unpacks these categories, specifies the mechanisms through which they emerge, and illustrates the framework’s analytical value through a series of empirical vignettes drawn from both the Cold War and the contemporary era. The framework enables structured within-case and between-case comparisons as well as large-n analyses aimed at uncovering recurring conditions associated with distinct forms of interaction between rival powers.
Götz et al. (Wed,) studied this question.