Violent Non-state Actors in World Politics

by Mulaj, Kledja

• ISBN13: 9780231701204
• ISBN10: 0231701209
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-30
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

The 2008 attacks on Mumbai were carried out by a Pakistani militant group known as Lashkar i-Taiba, termed a "non-state actor" by Pakistan's president, Asif Zardari. In most cases, violent non-state actors (VNSAs) rise as a state fails, resorting to organized attacks as a brutally effective method for advancing political aims and other goals. Currently operating in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, and Sudan, VNSAs can take the form of national liberation movements that confront an occupying force; insurgents engaged in protracted political and military struggles which eat away at the legitimacy of a ruling government; terrorists who use threats or violence to effect political change; irregular yet recognizable armed forces working within an ungoverned area or failing state; and mercenary militias, such as those used by Shell, or army-loaded units, which operate in the Niger Delta. The essays in this volume map the relationship between VNSAs and the state, following the political, economic, and social processes behind the emergence of these groups and the manipulation of these processes to trigger a crisis of the state. Contributors target the point at which violence becomes desirable to the non-state actor, investigating whether this change alters the relationship between VNSAs and the state, and they track the influence VNSAs have on rebuilding the governments they tear down. One of the first resources to describe these groups in full, this volume explains the internal structure of VNSAs, their recruitment strategies and leading ideologies, the characteristics and partnerships that allow them to adapt and prosper, and the fundamental similarities and differences between these groups.

Author Biography

Klejda Mulaj is lecturer in international relations and Leverhulme Fellow in Ethno-national Politics at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Exeter. She is the author of Politics of Ethnic Cleansing: Nation-State Building and Provision of In/Security in Twentieth-Century Balkans.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
About the Contributors	p. xi
Acronyms	p. xvii
Introduction: Violent Non-State Actors; Exploring their State Relations, Legitimation, and Operationality	p. 1
Fragmentation of Sovereignty and Violent Non-State Actors in Colombia	p. 27
From VNSAs to Constitutional Politicians: Militarism and Politics in the Irish Republican Army	p. 45
The Persistence of Nationalist Terrorism: The Case of ETA	p. 69
The Kosovo Liberation Army and the Intricacies of Legitimacy	p. 93
The Rise and Fall of Militant Islamic Groups in Egypt	p. 115
Force of Arms and Hizbullah's Staying Power in Precarious Lebanon	p. 137
Hamas and the Prospects of De-radicalization	p. 157
Armed Groups and Fragmentation and Globalization in Iraq	p. 181
AI Qaeda: From the Near to the Far Enemy and Back (1988-2008)	p. 207
The Role of Sub-National Actors in Afghanistan	p. 239
Militia Formation and the 'Nationalization' of Local Conflict in Liberia	p. 257
Understanding the Character and Policies of the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone	p. 277
UNITA's Insurgency Lifecycle in Angola	p. 293
Violent Non-State Actors in Sudan	p. 319
Non-State Actors and the Role of Violence in Stateless Somalia	p. 343
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE): Failed Quest for a 'Homeland'	p. 381
Private Military Firms: The Profit Side of VNSAs	p. 413
Non-State Actors in Conflict: A Challenge for Policy and for Law	p. 441
Index	p. 467
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