Mapping Non-State Actors in International Relations

This edited volume addresses the role of non-state actors (NSAs) in international relations. From their emergence in the early 20th century, entities of non-state status have played a role of increasing prominence in international politics. Scholarly work has been slow to catch up, approaching NSAs mainly through the scope of legitimacy and international law or limiting focus to NGOs, international organizations, and economic corporations. This volume remedies that, creating a typology of NSAs based on systematic and coherent analysis.

Presenting a series of cases of NSAs across the continuum of international relations, the chapters firmly ground NSAs in the ontology of international relations theory. 

Filling a gap in the current literature, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of international relations theory, international politics, international security, diplomatic history, and European and Middle East politics, as well as policy-makers and practitioners.



Marianna Charountaki is Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Lincoln (UK). She is a Trustee of BRISMES and convenor of BISA Foreign Policy Working Group. Her research lies at the intersection of International Relations theories, foreign policy analysis, and area studies with an emphasis on the Middle Eastern region. She has written extensively on non-state actors through the Kurdish case as well as on the state-non-state interactions in international relations.

Daniela Irrera is Professor of International Relations and Global Civil Society at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Catania (Italy), and Visiting Professor of Political Violence and Terrorism at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. She is member of the ECPR Executive Committee. Her research is focused on non-state actors' influence on global politics, both positive (civil society movements and NGOs) and negative (organized crime groups and terrorists).