In political science, a proxy war is as an armed conflict fought between two belligerents, wherein one belligerent is a non-state actor supported by an external third-party power. In the term proxy war, the non-state actor is the proxy, yet both belligerents in a proxy war can be considered proxies if both are receiving foreign military aid from a third party country. Acting either as a nation-state government or as a conventional force, a proxy belligerent acts in behalf of a third-party state sponsor. A proxy war is characterised by a direct, long-term, geopolitical relationship between the third-party sponsor states and their client states and non-state clients, thus the political sponsorship becomes military sponsorship when the third-party powers fund the soldiers and their matériel to equip the belligerent proxy-army to launch and fight and sustain a war to victory, and government power.

दो देशों या समूहों के बीच ऐसे स्ंघर्ष को परोक्ष युद्ध कहते हैं जिसमें दोनों में से कोई भी पक्ष सीधे दूसरे से संघर्ष न कर रहा हो बल्कि किसी तीसरी शक्ति का उपयोग करके दूसरे पक्ष को हानि पहुँचा रहा हो। द्वितीय विश्वयुद्ध के पश्चात विश्व में परोक्ष युद्ध काफी आम रहा है। इतना ही नहीं, २०वीं शताब्दी के उत्तरार्ध के अधिकांश संघर्ष, परोक्ष युद्ध ही थे।