Non-state Actors Research Articles

Responsibility for Offences against Internationally Protected Persons: Contemporary Legal Aspects

The article examines complex legal aspects of the problem of responsibility, when it comes to offences against internationally protected persons (OIPP). The article reveals that, depending on the international legal qualification of the offence, OIPP can be qualified as either an ordinary crime (the one prosecuted under domestic law following the participation of the State in the relevant international conventions the key of which is the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, Including Diplomatic Agents) or an international crime when it is a violent act against the protected person committed in the situation of an armed conflict. The authors argue that notwithstanding the fact that both cases entail individual criminal responsibility of the delinquent, individual criminal responsibility for OIPP as an ordinary crime occurs to the extent in which a State party to a relevant international convention has provided for punishment in its national legislation for the conduct criminalized thereby. At the same time, with regard to OIPP as a war crime, the article highlights that the commission of OIPP engenders the right to exercise universal jurisdiction under customary international law and the obligation to exercise quasiuniversal jurisdiction under the “Geneva law” for the purpose of bringing delinquents to justice. In the meantime, the most controversial issue is the question of international legal responsibility of a State in cases of OIPP. It is argued that such responsibility can arise, when OIPP is a war crime committed by a State agent or a non-State actor effectively controlled by the State, as well as when it fails to undertake necessary measures to ensure personal inviolability of protected persons in violation of diplomatic law, or in situations of the denial of justice.

Information security for criminological ethnographers

Information security refers to ‘the practice of defending information from unauthorised access’. Information security practices include everyday activities such as protecting your bank details, or keeping your workplace logins secure. Despite increasingly restrictive approaches to research ethics, academia continues to lag behind journalism when it comes to best practice with regards to information security. This article discusses information security as it pertains to qualitative and especially ethnographic research into crime and deviance. In doing so, the article addresses a gap in the methodological literature by drawing on lessons and real-world examples from journalism, academia and activism, in order to offer guidance for researchers seeking to maintain information security in a digital, networked social world. The article proceeds in three parts. First, the article considers what information researchers might want to protect, who they might want to protect it from and what the consequences might be if they failed to do so (an exercise known as ‘threat modelling’). The different powers, resources and capacities of, and threats posed by, state actors such as the police and intelligence agencies, as well as an array of non-state actors, are considered. Second, the article outlines some general principles of information security and how they might apply to ethnographic research into crime and deviance. Third, the article discusses a range of practical considerations when it comes to using mobile phones (cell phones), social media, passwords and encryption in the course of researching crime and deviance.

The Rise of Militant Non-State Actors in the Middle East: Consequences for the Statehood

In the great power rivalries, the state employs various tactics to enforce their agenda at the regional scale. It involves conducting the intelligence based operations, limited strikes or fostering partnerships with the non-state actors. However, by forming the alliance with the non-state actors, the great powers often neglects the statehood of the parent state which results in the empowering of non-state actors. In the contemporary global order, militant non-state actors have generated a lot of attention owing to their increasingly transnational objectives. However, these non-state actors have also managed to evade the label of terrorism by integrating into the state structure of their parent states. In certain cases, where the integration was not feasible, the militant non-state actors have developed their social base through the incentives of social services. Under such circumstances, the state’s integrity is compromised which have led to the new debates of conceptualizing the role of militant non-state actors around the globe. This study would debate on these factors by limiting the focus in the Middle East and would highlight the sponsorship of foreign states in the rise of militant non-state actors.

Influence of Organizational Structure on the Performance of Agencies Constituting the National Council on the Administration of Justice in Kenya

Strategy implementation drivers are elements that shape an organization's strategy and determine important success elements, long-term prosperity, and essential value propositions. The National Council on the Administration of Justice in Kenya comprises state and non-state actors in the administration of justice. They play a role in establishing and maintaining a favorable environment for the economic, social, and political development of the country as envisaged in the Kenya Vision 2030. Despite the existence of strategic plans, government agencies have been criticized for underperformance. Implementation of the strategic plan has been marred with challenges including: clogging up of the Justice system with petty offenses, systemic, structural, and agency challenges, a low rate of successful prosecution of serious offences, and that the justice system is skewed against the poor. This study sought to establish the influence of organizational structure on the performance of agencies constituting the National Council on the Administration of Justice in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the influence of power relations, communication flow, and people interactions on the performance of agencies constituting NCAJ and to assess the moderating role of the regulatory environment on the relationship. The study used a descriptive correlational survey research design and utilized both qualitative and quantitative data. The study's unit of analysis was the 36 institutions that comprise the NCAJ, while the unit of observation was 231 drawn from the top and middle-level managers, with a sample of 164 obtained using the Yamane formula. Primary data were collected using interviews and structured questionnaires administered by trained research assistants. Secondary data were collected from NCAJ reports. A pilot study of 10% of the sample frame was conducted, and those who participated in the pilot study were excluded from the final study. Cronbach's alpha and exploratory factor analysis were used to test the reliability and validity of the data collection instrument. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data with the help of the SPSS tool. Descriptive statistics was presented using measures of central tendency and measure of variability in tables, while inferential statistics was presented using a regression model. The study found that power relations, communication flow, and people interactions have a significant and positive relationship with the performance of agencies constituting the NCAJ. Thus, the study concluded that there is a strong, significant positive relationship between organizational structure (r=.225 and p<0.05) and the performance of agencies constituting the National Council on the Administration of Justice in Kenya. The study also concluded that the Regulatory environment has a moderating influence on the relationship between organizational structure and the performance of agencies constituting the National Council on the Administration of Justice in Kenya (r=.241 and p<0.05). From the findings, the study recommended that NCAJ should maintain a clear line of communication between the various management levels. This will assist firms in increasing productivity, increasing employee loyalty and morale, making operations run more smoothly, and, as a result, increasing customer satisfaction.

Political homophobia

Abstract This article comparatively analyses the rise of anti-LGBT rhetoric in Indonesia and Turkey in the 2010s and early 2020s. In both countries, periods of greater public visibility of LGBTQ+ people in the early 2000s were followed by waves of severe anti-LGBT rhetoric, violence, and legal measures. This analysis focusses on the rhetoric that conservative state and non-state actors use to other non-heteronormative people and to exclude them from the nation or “the people”. My main argument is that state and non-state actors conduct othering of LGBTQ+ people and construct them as dangerous threats to the nation and to the structure of the family. The anti-LGBT narratives are integrated into larger conspiracy narratives of foreign powers undermining the nation.

On the Relationship Between German International Criminal Law and Counter-terrorism Criminal Law

Abstract In many cases, and, in particular, in cases concerning crimes committed in the Syrian conflict, an overlap can be identified between international criminal law and counter-terrorism criminal law. The reason for this is the approximative and normative intertwining of these two areas in German criminal law. By way of counter-terrorism criminal law, Germany implemented an organizational crime of membership in an organization whose objective or activities are directed towards the commission of, inter alia, genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, as well as murder. As a consequence, non-state armed groups active in a non-international armed conflict are considered terrorist groups. While this allows for cumulative prosecution, charging, and conviction, in this article an argument will be made that the increasing intertwining of German international criminal law and counter-terrorism criminal law has a problematic side. It blurs the historical, conceptual, and normative differences between the two areas of criminal law. Eventually, this further deepens the asymmetry in the prosecution of state and non-state actors for international crimes.

Safety as a synthetic scientific category

This paper the main concepts (schools) of security presented in the literature were analyzed, and it is shown that within their framework a different understanding of the term “security” was formed. It is noted that the monoreference model of B. Buzen and the binary security system of the state and society of O. Waver are being replaced by an understanding of the triad of security organized from the state to the person through society. Thus, the rethought concept of security takes into account not only States and their respective relationships, but also the relationship between the individual, society and the State and their overlapping perceptions of threats, which have become diverse and multidirectional. The combination of these approaches enriches our understanding of security, leads to the conclusion that security is now a complex (synthetic) scientific category, which is the theoretical and methodological basis for cognition and identification of a number of generic concepts: “national”, “public”, “environmental” and other security. According to the position of the authors, it is necessary to conceptualize the concept of “security” and consider it as a system of rational management of fears and threats (through various measures specifically defined in regulatory legal acts for each sector and reference object, consistently implemented by state and non-state actors.

Influence of Organizational Resources on Performance of Agencies Constituting the National Council on the Administration of Justice in Kenya

Purpose: Strategy implementation drivers are elements that shape an organization’s strategy and determine important success elements, long-term prosperity, and essential value propositions. The National Council on the Administration of Justice in Kenya comprises of state and non-state actors in the administration of justice. They play a role in establishing and maintaining a favorable environment for the economic, social, and political development of the country as envisaged in Kenya’s Vision 2030. The agencies in the administration of justice have formulated strategic plans but despite the existence of strategic plans, they have been criticized for underperformance with the implementation of the strategic plans being marred with challenges which include; clogging up of the Justice system with petty offenses, systemic, structural and agency challenges, low rate of successful prosecution of serious offenses and justice system being skewed against the poor. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of organizational resources on the performance of the agencies constituting the NCAJ. With a specific objective to establish the influence of tangible, intangible, and human resources on the performance of the agencies constituting NCAJ and to assess the moderating role of the regulatory environment on the relationship.
 Methodology: The study was anchored on resource-based theory. The study used a descriptive correlational survey research design and utilized both qualitative and quantitative data. The study’s unit of analysis was the 36 institutions that comprise the NCAJ while the unit of observation was 231 drawn from the top and middle-level managers with a sample of 164 obtained using the Yamane formula. Primary data was collected by use of interviews and structured questionnaires administered by trained research assistants. Secondary data was collected from reports of NCAJ. A pilot study of 10% of the sample frame was conducted and those who participated in the pilot study were excluded from the final study. Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis were used to test for reliability and validity of the data collection instrument. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data with the help of the SPSS tool. Descriptive statistics was presented by use of measures of central tendency and measure of variability in tables while inferential statistics was presented by use of a regression model.
 Findings: The study found that tangible resources, intangible resources, and human resources have a significant and positive relationship with the performance of the agencies constituting the NCAJ. Thus, the study concluded that there is a strong significant positive relationship between organizational resources (r=.560 and p<0.05) and the performance of the agencies constituting the NCAJ. The study also found and concluded that Regulatory Environment has a moderating influence on the relationship between organizational resources and the performance of the agencies constituting the NCAJ (r=.241 and p<0.05).
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: From the findings, the study recommended that NCAJ should enhance their tangible, intangible, and human resources as this will help to increase resource reliance in Organizations. Moreover, it will assist firms in increasing productivity, increasing employee loyalty and morale, and making organizational operations run more smoothly. The study provides empirical evidence for policy formulation in the area of administration of justice, a contribution to the existing literature on the influence of organization resources and organizational performance, and an affirmation of the resource-based theory.

International kidnapping by non-state actors: Exploring the relationship between political predictors and the selection of victims

ABSTARCT This study examines target selection by non-state actors who engage in international kidnapping. Existing literature addresses violence against specific victims, such as aid workers and journalists, and explores the attractiveness of these targets to kidnappers. However, studies fail to explore whether the political predictors of violence against aid workers or journalists are the same or different compared to other victim types. This study introduces a conceptual framework that assesses the political context of victimization, including the level of liberty in a state, foreign influence, extent of U.S. military and economic aid, degree of private sector development, region, and frequency of terrorism. Logistic regression is performed on a dataset of 579 victims, revealing a different combination of significant political predictors. This framework shows that the political environment varies across five categories of victims: aid workers, journalists, diplomats, business workers, and tourists. However, it remains unclear whether the political environment renders specific targets easier to abduct, whether those same conditions enhance the attractiveness of specific targets to non-state actors, or a combination of both. Nevertheless, knowledge of target selection preferences by non-state actors can inform policy that seeks to reduce the frequency of international kidnapping by recognizing the vulnerability of specific targets.

Visualising insecurity: the globalisation of China’s racist ‘counter-terror’ education

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the Chinese party-state’s production of visual racism towards Uyghurs as a discursive foundation for its ethnic policy, as globally reproduced and disseminated by non-state actors. The paper draws from theoretical literature on the relationship between visual politics and affect, stressing the need for visual literacy to reflect on how images emotionally affect audiences’ identities and insecurities. It focuses this analysis on education texts in China’s post-2012 ‘de-extremification’ and ‘re-education’ campaigns, specifically on how images tell stories about life-or-death security issues that define Chinese identity. Chinese education about Uyghurs tends to frame Uyghur identities as racialised, culturally external existential threats to be defeated by state violence or teaching them to be Chinese. However, Uyghurs’ own visibility strategies in global advocacy counter the party-state’s imagery by centring their lives and experiences. The article shows how these strategies can be used as resources for teaching about Chinese politics and society.

Diplomacy of Non-State Armed Actors: A New Reality in International Relations?

ABSTRACT The current international system finds itself in a phase where foreign relations are shaped not only by the official governments of individual states but also by other, often diverse, actors. In particular and far more than ever, non-state actors have begun to establish foreign contacts through the same foreign policy tools and activities to increase their political, military, economic and ideological positions. However, despite this trend, the academic field lacks conceptualisation and research into the international activities of non-state armed actors in the current academic field. Hence, this study has the ambition to present a new conceptual approach to the ‘diplomacy’ of non-state armed actors; and initiate a debate in the field of International Relations in the context of the research question of whether we can consider the international activities of non-state armed actors as a new branch of diplomacy.

Two Decades of the African Peace and Security Architecture: Call for Reforms

This article argues for the rethinking of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and calls for reforms in the wake of APSA’s 20th anniversary since its adoption. The article proposes the adoption of an APSA PLUS approach to allow for structured cooperation with other States and non-State actors beyond the African continent, as well as the expansion of the number and scope of the existing pillars from the current five to six. The findings of this article are intended to offer recommendations on key areas that could benefit from such efforts.

Soviet-Afghan War Veterans as Violent Specialists amidst State Disintegration and Civil War in Tajikistan, 1990–1992

ABSTRACT The Soviet collapse in the early 1990s left a security vacuum in Tajikistan, where the regime retained few instruments of coercion after Moscow’s rule melted away. One potential source of informal coercive power was Soviet-Afghan War veterans, or afgantsy, who were militarily trained and in many cases combat-experienced and represented what Charles Tilly has termed ‘violent specialists’. This article argues that organized afgantsy initially offered security functions to the Tajik regime but that, as state authority crumbled, their relationship to state bodies became increasingly tenuous. Eventually, many veterans aligned with non-state violent actors during the civil war, performing several coercive functions on their behalf, including establishing, training, and commanding armed formations. The trajectory of the veterans, hence, paralleled that of the state collapse and the informalization of coercive power in Tajikistan. The changing relationship between veterans and political authority offers a point on which to explore wider shifts in the control and deployment of coercive power in the context of the Soviet collapse in Tajikistan.

How and why the Arctic Council survived until now – an analysis of the transition in chairship between Russia and Norway

ABSTRACT From Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine to the handover of the Norwegian chairship of the Arctic Council, concerns have arisen regarding the Council’s ability to weather this emerging geopolitical challenge. This article provides a chronological overview of the events within and outside the Council from 24 February 2022, until the chairship transition on 11 May 2023. Additionally, the article analyses the legal and political framework that has sustained the Arctic Council until now. Multiple factors have contributed to the Arctic Council’s ability still to be considered relevant: its role as a knowledge producer and facilitator, its strategic significance as a multilateral platform for cooperation, and the inclusion of non-state actors and indigenous peoples in decision-shaping processes. In addition to its incentivising individual states to demonstrate their commitment to Arctic governance when addressing climate and environmental issues in the north beyond the constraints of bilateral relations. By examining these incentives and contextualising the recent developments within the Arctic Council, this paper examines the chairship transition between Russia and Norway and discusses how and why the Arctic Council survived during this time.

The Houseness of the Naga House Museum: Towards a Narrative of the Postcolonial South Asian House Museum

This article expands the study of museums and public culture in postcolonial South Asia and the Global South through an exploration of non-state house museums in contemporary Nagaland, a state in north-east India that is Indigenously inhabited, predominantly Christian, and was home to an armed movement for political autonomy over 1953–97. It demonstrates that the political significance of the Naga house museum as a site of history, heritage and identity rendered invisible in state-funded exhibitionary arenas that display an essentialist image of Naga Indigeneity is not only anchored to the labour of non-state actors, but also to the open-ended and oscillating ties between ritual and secular frames of exhibition and reception that animate it within an expanded field of visual and exhibitionary cultures. In doing so, this article challenges the dominant European and North American imaginary of the historic house as the basis for normative understandings of the house museum. If canonical accounts of house museums focus on their ‘museumness’, this study seeks to foreground the ‘houseness’ of the house museum in postcolonial South Asia.

The newest aspect of industrial espionage : Cyber threats from UAVs to non-state actors

The crime of industrial espionage to obtain trade secrets is as old as the dawn of commerce. With the development of modern technology, the techniques for obtaining secrets, or in modern terms, data, have been constantly evolving. With the advent of drones on the market, physical and cyber-attacks against critical infrastructure and non-state actors have increased significantly. The relative ease of modification of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) has led to the emergence of spy vehicles capable of acquiring sensitive data without the ground controller entering the area. Critical infrastructure is protected at the state level, with military and/or national security at the global level, but non-state actors are vulnerable to attack. The aim of this paper is to show how non-state actors are affected by the threat and what options they have to defend themselves. Whether EEA countries are threatened by this form of espionage.

Legal Security and Legal Protection in the First Time Land Registration Publicat<!-- ============== --> <journal_article publication_type='full_text'> <titles> <title>Effects of Non-State Actors’ Interventions on Post Covid-19 Health Security Outcomes in Kenya

This study investigates the pivotal role of non-state actors (NSAs) in bolstering health security outcomes in post-COVID-19 Kenya, where government resources alone were insufficient to meet the urgent health needs of the population. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, integrating both quantitative and qualitative data to provide a comprehensive analysis of NSA interventions. The study utilized simple random sampling to select 100 respondents for the quantitative survey and purposive sampling to identify key interviewees for in-depth qualitative insights. The interventions evaluated include disease surveillance, medical supplies, vaccine distribution, public health education, and community health services. Quantitative findings reveal that the most frequent interventions were the provision of medical supplies (30%) and vaccine distribution (25%), followed by disease surveillance (20%), public health education (15%), and community health services (10%). These efforts were largely effective, with 40% of respondents rating medical supplies and 36% rating vaccine distribution as significantly improving health security outcomes. However, the study also identifies key challenges, such as the spread of misinformation (45%) and coordination issues among NSAs (50%), which hindered their overall effectiveness. Qualitative data further illustrates the positive impact of NSAs on early disease detection and community health awareness, while also highlighting the need for enhanced communication strategies to mitigate the spread of misinformation and improve the coordination of efforts. The study concludes that while NSAs played a crucial role in addressing health crises, optimizing their contributions in future emergencies will require better communication and coordination mechanisms. These insights underscore the importance of NSAs in public health and offer strategic recommendations for strengthening health security in similar contexts.

BEYOND THE COURTROOM: THE EVOLUTION OF RIGHTS-BASED CLIMATE LITIGATION FROM URGENDA TO HELD AND ITS POLICY IMPACT

This paper examines the growing trend of employing international and human rights law in domestic climate change lawsuits as a strategic tool for legal action. Using a qualitative and comparative analysis of seminal case law, such as Urgenda Foundation v the Netherlands and R (Friends of the Earth and others) v Heathrow Airport Ltd and Held v State, this paper aims to explain the juridical trajectories and methodologies employed in rights-based climate litigation. The primary objective is to critically evaluate the potential regulatory impact of this emergent jurisprudential paradigm on both domestic legislation and international climate change treaties. The study posits that when traditional enforcement mechanisms enshrined in international environmental law treaties prove ineffective, domestic litigation grounded in human rights claims serve as a catalyst for transformative jurisprudence. This, in turn, can exert substantial pressure on state and non-state actors, compelling them to adopt more strict regulatory measures to mitigate the effects of climate change. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to elucidate the effectiveness and development of rights-based jurisprudence in climate litigation, and second, to assess its potential for influencing the creation of stronger regulatory mechanisms at both state and international levels. The paper argues that when international treaties fail to take adequate climate change action, domestic lawsuits based on human rights claims start to serve as a lever of change, pressuring both state and non-state actors into adopting more ambitious measures. The study underscores the importance of this rights-based approach not merely as a legal strategy but as a multifaceted tool for effectuating systemic regulatory advancements and fostering climate justice.

ПОЛИТИКА ПАМЯТИ В ЛЕГИТИМАЦИИ ВЛАСТИ ПОСТСОВЕТСКИХ ГОСУДАРСТВ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ОСНОВНЫХ НАУЧНЫХ ТЕОРИЙ

The formation of political regimes in the republics of the former USSR is helped by the implementation of an active symbolic policy, which contributes to the legitimation of power in the majority of states formed after 1991. The presented article reflects scientific theories and approaches to the phenomenology of symbolic politics considered in the interaction of the political power of new polities and social strata and population groups of these states. The relevance of the chosen topic of the article lies in the study of the algorithm for the implementation of symbolic politics in new conditions that influence the legitimation and strengthening of political power in new states. Field research: political institutions, processes and technologies. The purpose of the article is to present and justify the author’s definition and phenomenology of the symbolic politics of post-Soviet states in line with scientific theories and approaches to understanding the role of states and public policy. The subject of the study is the essential characteristics of symbolic politics in the processes of legitimation of political regimes in the republics of the former USSR. As a result of the research conducted by the author, on the basis of scientific theories and approaches to public policy, the essence of the symbolic policy pursued in the states of the post-Soviet space is substantiated. Problem statement: the constructed collective historical memory and political mythology in the post-Soviet space, implemented by state institutions and non-state actors, provides a solution to the following problems. In particular, the legitimation of political power, the success of the formation of civil identity and the construction of a political nation. The study of successful examples of symbolic policies of new states has a chance of practical application in the Russian Federation.

A never-ending tug-of-war: The inherent right of self-defense against non-state actors

Within the scope of jus ad bellum, the right of self-defense attracts the greatest legal controversies. The long doctrinal debate surrounding it reveals the difficulty in determining its scope and precise limits during a unilateral military reaction against terrorist organizations. Here, we integrate this debate, arguing that this right is no longer only capable of being invoked in the event of an armed attack already perpetrated by a State, but it also does not have enough elasticity – without distorting it – to accommodate self-defense against terrorism. The cases of Afghanistan and Syria, on the one hand, reflect this controversy. On the other hand, they demonstrate the need for jus ad bellum to quickly adapt to reality. Therefore, we propose an intermediate position – the Unwilling and Unable doctrine, which allows the implemented system not to be distorted if it is properly defined, and if it is no longer indiscriminately invoked by States.