Non-state Groups Research Articles

Negotiating Peace with Islamists? Reviewing the Literature

ABSTRACT Armed conflicts with Islamist non-state groups appear particularly resilient against peace negotiations, while existing research on the subject remains scarce and scattered across different sub-literatures. This study provides the first systematic literature review to identify explanations for the challenges that Islamist conflicts pose for peace negotiations. Gathering theoretical arguments and empirical findings from a total of 57 studies published between 2001–2024, the analysis yields important insights. On the one hand, it shows that existing explanations focus on the Islamists’ ideology, their often cell-like internal structure and access to transnational support channels as potential barriers to negotiation onset. On the other hand, responsibility is also ascribed to governments, highlighting their tendency to overlook potentially negotiable grievances held by Islamists, the acting of external governments as veto players and the proliferation of terrorist-listings as hurdles for conflict resolution. At the same time, the reviewed studies suffer from limitations with respect to the external validity of the obtained findings. Moreover, some of the identified explanations are primarily raised in studies of transnational Islamist groups but remain largely absent from studies dealing with nationally focused Islamists. Based on the obtained findings, I propose several suggestions for future research.

A Latter Day Judas? Security, Diplomatic Protection, and the Foreign Office Security Department, 1955–1987

This article looks at the response of the British Foreign Office to security threats to HMG diplomats and diplomatic posts, placing security at the heart of the study of UK diplomacy. It explores the response of the Foreign Office’s Security Department to the threat of espionage by hostile states, and the increasingly violent threats posed by terrorist groups and other non-state groups to diplomats and diplomatic premises overseas. It seeks to build on earlier work on the development of the Security Department, suggesting that security within the Foreign Office was taken increasingly seriously as the lives of officials came under threat. It also looks at the broader role that security plays in diplomacy, and the tensions between public diplomacy and the protection of officials serving overseas.

Transient States and Timeless Ties: (In)Formality, Power Networks, and the EU Mission in Kosovo

Abstract State-building by external actors can be understood as a practice of intervention in post-conflict spaces characterized by convergences and contestations between different actors striving for power and legitimacy. Informal non-state (armed) groups and clientele networks profit from the contingencies during transition and “capture” emerging formal state institutions to secure private gains and public positions. Order in this newly formed state is established through a dynamic process involving both external actors and domestic power networks. Most of the literature on intervention either focuses on top-down effects of external actors or resistance by local actors, thus falling short of describing the timeless ties of post-war networks and individuals in their day-to-day interaction patterns. How can we then understand the interaction and collusion between post-conflict power networks and external “statebuilders”? We use Bourdieu’s concept of the field to examine the local spaces of interventions and argue that interventions are social and relational practices characterized by day-to-day routines and overlapping, yet co-existing modes of formal and informal interactions. Empirically, we rely on qualitative social network analysis and interviews to visibilize these social practices and collusion between external actors and power networks in Kosovo and its impact on “state-building” efforts by the international community.

Challenges arising from cyber security in the dimension of modern global security (on the example of the Russia-Ukraine war)

The challenges and threats from cyber security are increasing every day in the world. All this has a significant impact on international relations. When we are dealing with such a revolutionary development of technology as in the 21st century, it is already necessary for all states to have high-standard cyber security systems. This is not an easy issue to solve, because cyber security requires quite a lot of finances, human resources, and also specially trained professionals. Threats emanating from cyberspace need a proper response, in this case we have no choice, the whole world is facing danger. Cybercrime and the damage caused by it are increasing year by year. Also, all this affects a person psychologically and leaves a feeling of insecurity. The biggest problem is that aggressive states, terrorist organizations, non-state groups, large corporations, etc. are mostly involved in this virtual war (as in the real one). As an example, we can cite such an aggressor state as Russia, which carries out major cyber attacks against Ukraine, Georgia and other states whose cyber security systems are less protected. The transition of political, military, social or criminal processes into cyberspace has made cyber security one of the main segments of state security. Countries with developed cyber-offensive potential, primarily Russia, successfully use cyberspace both during war and conflict, as well as in peacetime, to gain geopolitical advantage. This article discusses the challenges and threats associated with the development of modern cyber and information technologies, analyzes the threats associated with the new information security capabilities of modern states, including cybersecurity. The aim of the paper is to present the role of cyber security in the Russia-Ukraine war and the threats arising from it. The following methods are used in the paper: methods of historical-descriptive, policy research and comparative analysis. The paper uses the theories of balance of power and securitization.

Civil war violence and competing legitimacy claims: Evidence from district level courts cases in Nepal

Internal armed conflict is the ultimate instantiation of two actors – the state and a non-state group – challenging the legitimacy of one another. The state primarily responds violently to those who challenge, either violently or non-violently, its legitimacy. To what extent does the violent suppression of rebel activity erode state legitimacy? How does the potential for the use of violence by non-state armed groups and the offer of parallel governance erode state legitimacy? This research develops an argument specific to contested territories where both sides cannot offer model governance but use violence for opposing reasons, namely the rebel group to delegitimize the state and the state to regain its monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Because the use of violence from either side creates a demand for judicial remedies, I conceptualize the degree of legitimacy in terms of the utilization of the state court system in the face of increased violence by the state or non-state armed groups. In line with theoretical expectations, empirical analyses of criminal and civil cases filed in Nepal's district courts during the Maoist insurgency suggest a statistically significant negative impact of the rebel use of violence and their offer of alternative governance on state legitimacy. Similarly, the state's use of violence had a negative and significantly detrimental effect on state legitimacy.

What They Are Fighting For – Introducing the UCDP Conflict Issues Dataset

Although conflict issues – the stated goals of actors engaged in conflict – hold a privileged position in many theoretical explanations of the occurrence, dynamics, and resolution of civil war, global issue data are scarce beyond datasets that focus on specific thematic areas. This article aims to bring issues into the forefront of civil war scholarship by presenting the UCDP Conflict Issues Dataset (CID). This global yearly dataset contains 14,832 conflict issues – divided, at the most disaggregated level, into 120 sub-categories – raised by armed non-state groups involved in intrastate armed conflict in 1989-2017. By bringing issues back in, the UCDP CID provides opportunities to reevaluate several central questions about the onset, duration, intensity, and resolution of civil war.

Virtual Groups and the Triggering of Armed Conflicts

Abstract The article examines how virtual groups can trigger an armed conflict, and thus, the application of international humanitarian law (ihl). The emergence of non-State actors as central players in cyberspace, together with the increasing use of cyber operations in conflicts, makes the regulation of non-State actors in armed conflicts a topical issue. The triggering provisions in ihl require a level of organization of non-State groups, which do not necessarily resonate with the realities among virtual groups. To determine if the triggering provisions allow for a reinterpretation to fit better the potentially differently structured virtual groups, the article scrutinizes the legal bases for the organization requirements in the respective provisions and identities the underlying rationales. The article concludes that the legal bases for the organization requirement in the three provisions are distinct, but that none of them currently allows for reinterpretation.

A REVIEW OF FARMERS-HERDERS CONFLICT AND IMPLICATIONS ON FOOD SECURITY, ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS AND ECONOMY OF IBARAPA, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

In Nigeria, thousands of people die in violent clashes between groups of farmers and nomadic pastoralists. Due to better access to weapons and communication tools, the war has been worse in recent years. The old and the well-established systems of negotiation between the groups have mostly broken down. Thus, those with superior tools try to acquire what they want without speaking to other parties. The lack of resources, however, did not suddenly appear in the region and is also a result of several other factors that were discussed in this study, such as ineffective state mechanisms, the Nigerian oil boom, late effects of colonialism, climate change, constantly rising non-state group armament, e. t. c. To demonstrate effects of the conflict, the socioeconomic implications will be discussed. This research focuses on the crisis between the farmers and the Fulani herdsmen in the Ibarapa community of Oyo State as a review case study. The Ibarapa community is made up of various socioeconomic groups who have lived together for a long time, even though this coexistence has both beneficial and negative effects. Yoruba people, that are primarily farmers, and Fulani herdsmen, who are primarily herders, make up the majority of those leaving the Ibarapa community. In recent years, tension and hostility between farmers and herdsmen have emerged due to the battle for land and other scarce resources. Insecurity and food crisis have also resulted from the conflict, which have escalated into fights between the two groups. The connection between the two groups has soured, though, and this is a serious matter that warrants attention on a worldwide scale. Hence this review is apt.

¡Basta Ya! The Basque Civic Movement and Nonviolent Resistance to eta’s Terrorism

Abstract This paper examines the impact that the Basque civic movement had in the civil resistance against the armed separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (eta). The ‘civic’ or ‘constitutionalist’ movement, whose best-known representative was the social movement organization ¡Basta Ya!, emerged to demand the protection of Basque citizens’ human and political rights, which were routinely abused by eta and their sympathisers. The movement impacted on the cycle of contention against terrorism through the diffusion of democratic norms and anti-eta political narratives, by sustaining civil resistance against terrorism while enduring persecution by their militants and sympathisers and by protecting the social fabric through the channelling of non-nationalist grievances into collective action that was pro-democratic and nonviolent. The case highlights the crucial parallels that exist between civil resistance to authoritarian regimes and non-state groups and the crucial role that civil society actors can play in the social delegitimisation of terrorist organisations.

Corporate Social Responsibility And Financial Performance: An Empirical Study On Vietnam Commercial Banks

This paper examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) information disclosure and the one-way impact of CSR on financial performance described by the net interest margin (NIM) of the Vietnamese commercial banks between 2012 and 2019. The sample was selected in 29 commercial banks with 232 observations. The generalized method of moments (GMM) was used in this research. The finding shows that the employee responsibility index has the highest disclosure rate, while the environmental responsibility is the lowest. Comparing the level of CSR disclosure among the groups in the sample, the finding also shows that the State group has a higher disclosure rate than the non-State group. Furthermore, the GMM estimation results positively impact NIM's total CSR and environmental responsibility indexes.

The Empirical Determinants of Violent Nonstate Actor Drone Adoption

Commercial drone advancements have enabled terrorists with crude airpower, challenging states’ aerial dominance. Today, many groups skillfully use drones for propaganda generation, surveillance and reconnaissance, command and control, and attacks. Despite their obvious value, there is wide variation in adoption begging questions about who is using drones and why. Prominent in practitioner and security provider circles, academics are just skimming the surface of this important phenomenon. The small existing literature suggests that violent nonstate actor drone use is little more than Iran-sponsored jihadist terrorists with territory in the Middle East. Using an original data set on characteristics across 998 armed nonstate groups from 1995 to 2019, we explore the empirical determinants of drone adoption. Although Iran-sponsorship is a significant factor, we find that network affiliations are the strongest predictors of adopting a drone program. We also demonstrate that groups with more intensive attack profiles and narco groups are more likely to pursue unmanned aerial systems. Our study provides the first quantitative probe of the drivers of armed nonstate drone use, putting academic assertions and policy prescriptions on firmer empirical ground.

Peacekeeping Deployments, Intragroup Cohesion, and the Use of Sexual Violence by Armed Non-State Groups

ABSTRACT How do United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions influence the use of conflict related sexual violence (CRSV) by armed non-state actors? This study argues efficacy is influenced by conditions that precede deployment and the composition of UN forces. Poor intragroup cohesion within rebel ranks incentivizes CRSV, putting peacekeepers in a precarious position upon deployment. UN police improve law enforcement capabilities, build relationships with local communities, and promote information diffusion mechanisms. As a result, UN police are associated with a decrease in CRSV, even in the most difficult environments.

Beyond the Great War: Making Peace in a Disordered World, ed. Norman Ingram and Carl Bouchard

Historians have written extensively about the end of the First World War and the birth of the new international order, ranging from Arno J. Mayer’s Political Origins of the New Diplomacy (1959) to Margaret MacMillan’s Peacemakers (2003). The centenary of the Great War has added to this vast historiography. We now know more, for example, about the global implications of the war and its aftermath. Most studies, however, still focus on a fairly narrow set of actors and spaces, and a brief period of time. Six months changed the world, the subtitle of MacMillan’s book suggests. But was 1919 really a fresh start? Can we reduce the sortie de guerre to the negotiations in Paris, and the effect that President Woodrow Wilson had on them? The editors and contributors in this volume reject the dominant view of the peace process. 1919 was not a zero hour, they argue, nor a moment of order. Instead, the chapters emphasise the disorder and discontent that shaped the peace well into the 1920s, including voices that went unheard by contemporary decision makers. The book is the result of a 2018 conference by a group of French and Anglo-American scholars and consequently focuses on France and the anglophone world. It has eleven chapters divided into three sections, which address the emergence of internationalism, the post-war discourse in France, and the perspectives of women and non-state groups. The authors draw on a range of archival records, some of them previously untapped, as well as recent scholarship, notably the influential studies by Robert Gerwarth and Erez Manela.

Implications of Proliferation of Arms and Ammunition for West Africa Sub-Regional Development

The transfer of weapons and ammunition between non-state groups has grown significantly in West Africa. The consequences of these for regional security and their cross-border impacts have made it more likely that many other security issues would arise. The problem has gotten worse. In recent times and this raises questions about the sub-region’s security as a whole. The implication of proliferation of arms and ammunitions was examined qualitatively in this study. The research uses content analysis thereby limit the data to secondary data. The paper identified factors that motivate arms acquisition in the region, the most significant of which are unending conflicts and inability of governmental to control it. The work highlights the various efforts at eradicating the threat of the proliferation of illegal arms. The efforts were been hindered by a number of challenges namely lack of transparency, corruption on the part paramilitary officer, effect of globalization among others. The paper concludes and recommend more proactive response to curb the proliferation of arms and to maintain some level of security and a secure sub-region. An extensive strategy is advised to ensure the complete eradication of illegal dealing in arms.

Captured City: Authoritarianism, Urban Space and Project Skopje 2014

AbstractThis article looks at different strategies in which authoritarianism operated in relation to the redesign of Skopje during the rule of the conservative party VMRO-DPMNE and its leader Nikola Gruevski. It argues that the promoters of the urban project called “Skopje 2014” relied on a set of nondemocratic mechanisms and involvement and coordination of various individuals and institutions on all levels to implement and legitimize the project and expand its political dominance. These ranged from state-driven mechanisms and urban design strategies to contributions of non-state groups, thus demonstrating a systematic effort behind the makeover of Skopje. Examining the project through the concept of authoritarianism, the article goes beyond (methodological) nationalism to understand the complexity of the revamp of North Macedonia’s capital. It also demonstrates how the party used its ideological principles to leave its enduring mark on Skopje’s urban environment. Additionally, the article points out the need to study urban space politics in the context of hybrid and competitive authoritarian regimes.

Bridging the Norms of Counter-Terrorism and Responsibility to Protect: Countering the Proliferation and Activities of Armed Groups in Nigeria

Abstract How do we achieve the protection of vulnerable civilians from violent non-state actors in Nigeria? This article argues that despite the seemingly different approaches of Responsibility to Protect (r2p) and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, both can align at an intrastate implementation level to protect exposed communities from armed groups. The UN’s adoption of a people-centric approach to counter-terrorism (ct) and the preventive measures against heinous crimes instituted in pillars one and two of r2p creates the space for this cooperation. This article further shows how practitioners can integrate both regimes with local networks to provide a holistic civilian protection strategy. This approach encompasses international, state, and local agency in halting the proliferation and activities of violent non-state groups. I espouse a framework for the protection of vulnerable Nigerian populations based on three factors – community self-protection, economic well-being, and ideological reorientation.

Your Reputation Precedes You: Ceasefires and Cooperative Credibility During Civil Conflict

How does the state’s behavior in negotiations with one non-state group influence the behavior of other non-state actors? We argue that the dynamics of different conflicts within the same country are interdependent, and that a state develops a reputation through its interactions with each conflict party. This reputation provides a valuable source of information that other groups use to judge the state’s cooperative intentions. When a state develops a reputation for cooperation, this increases the likelihood of (indirect) reciprocation from other groups. More specifically, we argue that when states enter into (and honor) a ceasefire with one rebel group, they demonstrate a credible reputation for cooperation. A credible reputation for cooperation, we posit, increases the likelihood that other conflict parties enter into ceasefires with the state, or that they de-escalate their military activities. We test our claims using the new civil conflict ceasefire dataset and find support for our argument.

Decolonization and Genocide: Re-Examining Indian Partition, 1946–1947

ABSTRACT This article proposes that the Indian Partition of 1947 could be classified as a form of “decolonizing genocide.” It draws upon the original Lemkinian criteria for genocide in order to re-examine aspects of Partition violence. The author thus discusses the need to expand the existing terminology and frameworks that scholars have previously used to analyze the Partition; examines the different state and non-state groups involved, and how the climate of decolonization enabled different state and non-state groups to mobilize in various forms and degrees; and studies the victim groups, particularly, women and their experiences of sexual violence. From the case of Indian Partition, this article argues that the conditions present during decolonization help to perpetuate a specific kind of organized violence, carried out by state, quasi-state, and non-state agents, which is genocidal in both its logic and nature. Thus, re-examining Indian Partition as decolonizing genocide allows us to move beyond Eurocentric and state-oriented definitions of genocide in order to create a more effective approach towards understanding mass violence in decolonizing and postcolonial societies.

“Why We Have Become Revolutionaries and Murderers”: Radicalization, Terrorism, and Fascism in the Ustaša–Croatian Revolutionary Organization

ABSTRACT This article advances an interdisciplinary and multifactorial socio-cultural approach to the fascistization of the Ustaša in interwar Yugoslavia, leading to terrorism and racial cleansing. It concentrates on the life-trajectories of Mijo Babić and Zvonimir Pospišil, two nationalist activists notoriously known as the first Ustaša terrorists. Drawing on the previously unknown political memoirs of Pospišil and Babić, the article argues that the two activists bridged several phases of cumulative radicalization in the Ustaša organization, from the adoption of political violence at the grass-root level in the 1920s to international terrorism in the 1930s and then state-sponsored genocide in the first half of the 1940s. The article points out that Ustaša underwent most forms of political radicalization to terrorism identified by McCauley and Moskalenko (2008), but it also adds to their typology a case of radicalization to mass violence in the regime phase. Ustaša’s trajectory thus illustrates a rare process of transition from the radicalization of an oppositional, non-state group to mass radicalization leading to racial genocidal policies under a fascist-totalitarian regime. It is hoped that the biographical approach to radicalization advanced by the article contributes to a better understanding of politically motivated terrorism and mass violence in post-1918 Europe.

Unwanted participation? Defector public diplomacy in South Korea

ABSTRACT The controversy surrounding defector balloon launches into North Korea is often viewed as a bizarre example of Cold War legacies on the Korean peninsula. However, it is also a unique case study of non-state public diplomacy because these groups are attempting to engage in cross-border communication against the wishes of their host government. This article argues that South Korea’s unique interpretation of public diplomacy as a participatory activity has proven vulnerable to non-state organisations with divergent views of the national interest, which has resulted in two different types of public diplomacy being directed at North Korea. Subsequent attempts by the South Korean government to control the dissonant public diplomacy of non-state groups resulted in reputational costs for both sides and ultimately failed to prevent defectors from advancing their claim to a human right to communicate across national borders. Even though this case study broadly supports a polylateral interpretation of public diplomacy, it cautions that human rights discourses may obscure the fact that the traditional diplomatic system was designed to mitigate many of the risks associated with non-state diplomatic actors. Therefore, this paper suggests the need for more discussion about the consequences of a right to communicate across national borders.