'Von Felbert takes surrogate warfare where it needed to go: from dyads to networks, and from battlefield outcomes to the slower accumulation of influence that actually decides great power competition. Her mirrored case studies of Russia and the United States in Syria and Ukraine are rigorous and quietly damning. Prevailing in great power competition, she shows, requires not great power but strategic influence via surrogate networks. Essential reading.'

Andreas Krieg, King's College London, UK

'Leontine von Felbert's timely study offers an important account about the utility and limits of surrogate warfare in great power competition. Von Felbert astutely examines both Russian and American use surrogates in a first-of-its-kind study, likely to be an indispensable point of reference for the debate for years to come.'

Vladimir Rauta, University of Reading, UK