The Role of International Actors in Restructuring the Regional Order and Empowering Armed Groups
Keywords:
النظام الإقليمي، الفاعلون الدوليون، الجماعات المسلحةAbstract
This research examines the pivotal role of international actors in restructuring the regional order through the strategic empowerment and deployment of armed groups, using the Syrian conflict as a primary case study. It operates on the premise that utilizing these non-state entities was not merely a situational response, but rather a deliberate strategic methodology aimed at reshaping regional influence and obstructing the emergence of countervailing balances against major powers. Grounded in a Realist analytical framework, the study concludes that armed groups have evolved from secondary instruments of conflict into permanent functional units within the new regional equilibrium. This transformation necessitates a fundamental reassessment of traditional paradigms regarding national sovereignty and international agency.
References
قائمة المصادر والمراجع
أولا: الكتب
1. سكوت برتشيل وآخرون، نظريات العلاقات الدولية، ترجمة: محمد صفار، (القاهرة: المركز القومي للترجمة، 2014)
2. هيلاري كلينتون، خيارات صعبة، ترجمة: جينة موسى يونس (بيروت: شركة المطبوعات للتوزيع والنشر، 2015
3. جون ج. ميرشايمر، مأساة سياسات القوى العظمى، ترجمة: ميشيل حنا مكتبي، (الرياض: مكتبة العبيكان، 2012 م)
4. هشام حكمت عبد الستار، وليد سالم محمد، رغد نصيف جاسم، علم الاجتماع السياسي، ط1، (بغداد: دار الكتب والوثائق، وزارة التعليم العالي والبحث العلمي، 2019)
ثانياً: المجلات
1. أحمد عبد الأمير الأنباري، “التنافس الروسي–الأمريكي في منطقة الشرق الأوسط: تنازع النفوذ والأدوار، سوريا أنموذجاً”، مجلة العلوم السياسية، جامعة بغداد، كلية العلوم السياسية، العدد (60)، 2020
2. عادل عبد الحمزة ثجيل، “أثر التوظيف الاستراتيجي في تحقيق أهداف الدولة”، مجلة العلوم السياسية، كلية العلوم السياسية، جامعة بغداد، العددان (38–39)،2009.
ثالثاً: الوثائق والاتفاقيات الدولية
1. اتفاقيات جنيف الأربع لعام 1949، المعقودة في 12 آب 1949، منشورة على موقع اللجنة الدولية للصليب الأحمر.
رابعاً: المراجع الاجنبية
1. Jeremy M. Sharp and Christopher M. Blanchard, Armed Conflict in Syria: U.S. and International Response, Congressional Research Service (CRS), Report for Congress, RL33487, Washington, D.C., June 14, 2013,
2. Yoel Guzansky, “Saudi Arabia's Foreign Policy on Iran and the Proxy War in Syria,” Strategic Assessment, Vol. 17, No. 3, INSS, Tel Aviv, 2014
3. Øystein H. Rolandsen and Kjetil Selvik, “Disposable Rebels: US Military Assistance to Insurgents in the Syrian War,” Mediterranean Politics, published online 2023
4. Shabnam Dadparvar and Amin Parto, “Great Powers, the Arming of Non-State Groups”
5. Artur Malantowicz, “Civil War in Syria and the ‘New Wars’ Debate,” Amsterdam Law Forum, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2013
6. Phil Williams, Violent Non-State Actors and National Security, Carlisle: Strategic Studies Institute, 2008
7. Niklas Karlén, “Making Stars Align: Partnerships between State Sponsors and Armed Groups,” European Journal of International Security, Vol. 11 (2026)
8. Xiaoyan Qiu, “State Support for Rebels and Interstate Bargaining,” American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 66, No. 4 (October 2022)
9. Anthony Vinci, Armed Groups and the Balance of Power: The International Relations of Terrorists, Warlords and Insurgents (London: Routledge, 2009)
10. Jerome Drevon and Patrick Haenni, “The End of Jihadi Salafism? The Religious Governance of HTS, the Post-Jihadi Rebel Ruler in Northern Syria,” Mediterranean Politics, published online May 9, 2025, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2024.2410119.
11. Shabnam Dadparvar and Amin Parto, “Great Powers, the Arming of Non-State Groups, and the Prolongation of Armed Conflicts in the Middle East,” Asian Review of Political Economy, Vol. 4, No. 4, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1007/s44216-025-00046-8.
12. Mara Rodko, “Little Green Men” in a Legal Grey Zone: International Responsibility for Proxy Wars (Master’s thesis, Faculty of Law, McGill University, 2020)
13. Qutaiba Idlbi, The Syrian Civil War: A Proxy War in the 21st Century (Master’s Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, 2017)
14. Vladimir I. Batyuk, “The US Concept and Practice of Hybrid Warfare,” Strategic Analysis, Vol. 41, No. 5, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2017.1343235
15. John Mecklin, “Introduction: The Evolving Threat of Hybrid War,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. 73, No. 5, 2017
16. Ionuț Alin Cîrdei, “The Hybrid Warfare in the 21st Century: An Old Concept with a New Face,” International Conference Knowledge-Based Organization, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, 2017
17. U.S. Department of the Army, Field Manual 3-0: Operations (Washington, DC: Government Publishing Office, February 2011), para.2.
18. Meredith L. Jones and Sascha-Dominik Dov Bachmann, “Syria – A Hybrid War Case Study,” Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1, 2021