The Role of Non-State Actors in Modern Warfare: The Case of Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh

Abstract

ABSTRACT The changes in the nature of modern warfare and armed conflicts is largely due to the revolutionary advances in science and technology, as well as to the rapidly changing ‘geopolitical context’. These changes have significantly transformed the scale and form of war and warfare, the political and economic prospects, as well as the key actors, with non-state armed groups playing a key role in various stages of hostilities. The tendency to involve non-state actors in hostilities became more pronounced in the post-Cold War period; it has been directly related to the hybrid nature of modern warfare. Even when the non-state armed groups do not affect the course and outcome of the war at the strategic level, they may accomplish their task at the operational-tactical level with no less efficiency, using the latest technological weapons, artificial intelligence-led devices, etc. The article examines the role of non-state actors in modern warfare and in hostilities, drawing upon the case of Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh.