The Ashgate Research Companion To Non State Actors

How do non-state actors matter in international relations? This volume recognizes three types of non-state actor: non-governmental organizations (NGOs), intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and transnational corporations. It illustrates how they play roles alongside nation-states and are interrelated in matters of international regulation and coordination. After an introductory part on current qualitative and quantitative sources, this comprehensive collection of state-of-the-art essays is comprised of four main thematic parts: Part II examines actors other than governments, such as transnational religious actors, business representatives and experts, and also parliamentarians and agencies set up by IGOs. Part III studies the perceptions and understandings in political philosophy, international law and international relations theory. It questions concepts used (civil society, NGO, governance) and covers the limitations to be kept in mind. Part IV analyses the nature and impact of non-state actors. Chapters discuss processes within international bureaucracies (diplomacy, dynamism, bureaucratic power, contribution to democracy) and the quintessence of deliberation and decision making within NGOs and IGOs and of implementation, accountability and dispute settlement. Part V studies specific worlds of non-state actors: humanitarian aid, human rights, security, the North-South divide, health, trade and environment. Accessible and articulately written, The Ashgate Research Companion to Non-State Actors is aimed at a wide readership of scholars and practitioners in international relations.

EU studies increasingly recognize the salience of new regional insights. Hence, this collection of original essays provides a broad overview of regionalism, together with detailed analyses on the construction, activities, and implications of both established and emerging examples of formal political and economic organizations as well as informal regional entities and networks. Aimed at scholars and students interested in the continuing growth of regionalism, The Ashgate Research Companion to Regionalisms is a key resource to understanding the major debates in the field. Organized into three main sections, this volume deals with a wide range of issues covering the following important research areas: -Section one covers theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of established and formal regionalism, emerging and informal regionalism, inter-regionalism, and levels of regionalism. -Section two provides detailed case-studies of established and formal regionalisms: EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, SAARC, OAS, MERCOSUR, AU, ECOWAS, and SADC. -Section three offers case-studies that investigate emerging and informal regionalisms in Oceania, the Arab League, BRICSAM, and the Commonwealth(s) as well as thought-provoking chapters on micro-regional processes evident in spatial development initiatives, transnational gangs, transfrontier conservation areas, and the migration-conflict nexus in natural resource sectors. With the study of regionalism becoming an increasingly important part of politics, international relations, development, and global studies courses, this comprehensive volume is a valuable addition for classroom use.

Aimed at scholars, students and lay persons interested in peace and conflict studies, The Ashgate Research Companion to Political Violence is a comprehensive resource to understand the principal debates on political violence, a field which is becoming an increasingly important part of courses on peace and conflict. Organized into seven main sections, this volume deals with a wide range of issues covering the following important research areas: · Issues of definition and nomenclature and how contests over these relate to political violence. · Theoretical frameworks and methods for understanding and researching political violence. · Motivations and goals of those who use political violence. · The various forms of political violence. · Perspectives on countering political violence, by state and non-state actors. · Why and how political violence ends. · The aftermath of political violence. Contributions by leading scholars in the field provide an authoritative guide and source book on political violence for the scholar, the researcher and the informed general reader.

Assessing the influence of non-governmental organizations on international and transnational politics, as well as examining the importance of non-state actors in a world of nation-states, this theoretically rich text also discusses approaches that deal with the interplay between domestic and international politics. Thorough and insightful, this text draws on perspectives and theories from political science, policy studies and international law.Using topical and original case studies which cover the fields of security, trade, social clauses, environment, development aid, civil rights and crime, this volume constitutes one of the first vigorous theoretical analyses of this important contemporary phenomenon.

This Companion provides scholars and graduates, serving and retired military professionals, members of the diplomatic and policy communities concerned with security affairs and legal professionals who deal with military law and with international law on armed conflicts, with a comprehensive and authoritative state-of-the-art review of current research in the area of military ethics. Topics in this volume reflect both perennial and pressing contemporary issues in the ethics of the use of military force and are written by established professionals and respected commentators. Subjects are organized by three major perspectives on the use of military force: the decision whether to use military force in a given context, the matter of right conduct in the use of such force, and ethical responsibilities beyond the end of an armed conflict. Treatment of issues in each of these sections takes account of both present-day moral challenges and new approaches to these and the historical tradition of just war. Military ethics, as it has developed, has been a particularly Western concern and this volume reflects that reality. However, in a globalized world, awareness of similarities and differences between Western approaches and those of other major cultures is essential. For this reason the volume concludes with chapters on ethics and war in the Islamic, Chinese, and Indian traditions, with the aim of integrating reflection on these approaches into the broad consideration of military ethics provided by this volume.

This volume provides researchers and students with a discussion of a broad range of methods and their practical application to the study of non-state actors in international security. All researchers face the same challenge, not only must they identify a suitable method for analysing their research question, they must also apply it. This volume prepares students and scholars for the key challenges they confront when using social-science methods in their own research. To bridge the gap between knowing methods and actually employing them, the book not only introduces a broad range of interpretive and explanatory methods, it also discusses their practical application. Contributors reflect on how they have used methods, or combinations of methods, such as narrative analysis, interviews, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), case studies, experiments or participant observation in their own research on non-state actors in international security. Moreover, experts on the relevant methods discuss these applications as well as the merits and limitations of the various methods in use. Research on non-state actors in international security provides ample challenges and opportunities to probe different methodological approaches. It is thus particularly instructive for students and scholars seeking insights on how to best use particular methods for their research projects in International Relations (IR), security studies and neighbouring disciplines. It also offers an innovative laboratory for developing new research techniques and engaging in unconventional combinations of methods. This book will be of much interest to students of non-state security actors such as private military and security companies, research methods, security studies and International Relations in general.

This research companion has three complementary aims. First, to offer an overview of the current theoretical approaches to secession in the social sciences, international relations, legal theory, political theory and applied ethics. Second, to outline the current practice of international recognition of secession and current domestic and international laws which regulate secession. Third, to offer an account of major secessionist movements - past and present - from a comparative perspective.

Examining the past, present and future formulation and implementation of US foreign policy, this research companion provides a range of interpretations of the topic so that the reader comes away with a clear knowledge of the academic and policy debates that define the field. The volume focuses on American foreign policy from both historical and political science analytical perspectives and divides into three sections: -