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Grey is the new black : covert action and implausible deniability
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Cormac, Rory and Aldrich, Richard J. (2018) Grey is the new black : covert action and implausible deniability. International Affairs, 94 (3). pp. 477-494. doi:10.1093/ia/iiy067 ISSN 0020-5850.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy067
Abstract
For generations scholars have defined covert action as plausibly deniable interventions in the affairs of others; the sponsor’s hand is neither apparent nor acknowledged. We challenge this orthodoxy. Turning the spotlight away from covert action and onto plausible deniability itself, we argue that even in its supposed heyday, the concept was deeply problematic. Changes in technology and the media, combined with the rise of special forces and private military companies, mean that it makes even less sense today. We are now entering a remarkable era of implausible deniability and ambiguous warfare. Paradoxically, this does not spell the end of covert action. Instead, leaders are embracing implausible deniability and the ambiguity it creates. We advance a new conception of covert action, historically grounded but fit for the twenty-first century: unacknowledged interference in the affairs of others.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | International Affairs | ||||||
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||||
| ISSN: | 0020-5850 | ||||||
| Official Date: | 1 May 2018 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 94 | ||||||
| Number: | 3 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 477-494 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.1093/ia/iiy067 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 16 March 2018 | ||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 31 January 2019 | ||||||
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