Moving beyond terror groups to examine non-state actors including warlords, gangs and private security companies, Violent Non-State Actors: • Guides you through the core theories and concepts, taking a multidisciplinary approach • Examines different explanations for the emergence of violent non-state actors as well as strategies for dealing with them • Weaves in international case studies from groups including the Islamic State, Los Zetas, Hamas, and Al Qaeda, as well as discussion questions, further reading and definitions of key terms A must read for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate students in politics, international relations, security and terrorism studies.

Security Studies and Violent Non-state Actors

Security Studies and Violent Non-state Actors

Key Terms

  • Anarchy
  • Balance of power
  • Bipolarity
  • Constructivism
  • Collective security
  • Democratic peace theory
  • Human security
  • International institutions
  • Non-state actors
  • Nuclear weapons
  • Polarity
  • Security dilemma
  • Small arms

What Are the Main Approaches IN international relations?

International relations (IR) is a huge field that offers theories that organize generalizations about international politics. The discipline has had a long tradition of trying to explain the relationships between states. Theories of international relations examine questions such as: What are the causes of conflict? and Why is there peace? The last several decades, however, has seen the field of IR undergo a revolution in the study of conflict and violence.

For most scholars in IR, the role of the state is critical.1 Most scholars still see states as the most important actors, though others ...

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