Explaining Foreign Support Escalation in Civil War From Sponsorship to Intervention

Chapter 1: Introduction: From Backers to Belligerents  Chapter 2: Conceptualization: Two Logics of External Support  Chapter 3: The Argument: Unpacking Support Escalation Theory  Chapter 4: Research Design: Tracing Support Escalation Theory  Chapter 5: Black Shirts on the Meseta: Fascist Italy’s support to Franco in the Spanish Civil War  Chapter 6: The First Invasion of Ukraine: Escalation of Russian Involvement in the Donbas War  Chapter 7: Testing External Validity: Support Escalation Theory across Contexts  Chapter 8: Conclusion: The Present and Future of Support Escalation

Biography

Giuseppe Spatafora is Analyst for Transatlantic Relations at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), the EU’s agency for security and foreign policy analysis. He earned his PhD from the Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University, UK.

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'Giuseppe Spatafora's meticulous study provides the best discussion to date on how escalation crosses the direct-indirect thresholds of war. Theoretically ambitious and empirically rigorous, Spatafora breaks new intellectual ground with a welcome contribution to conflict studies that will serve as a point of reference to scholars and practitioners for years to come.'

Vladimir Rauta, Head of Department and Director of the Centre for Global Security and Governance, University of Reading, UK

 

'Why do outside states that provide indirect support to civil war parties sometimes escalate by directly joining the conflict? Spatafora's book tackles this important but hitherto underexplored question by drawing on the literature on proxy wars and military interventions, as well as on careful case studies. This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding an increasingly prevalent aspect of contemporary armed conflict.'

Costantino Pischedda, Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Miami, USA