Overview

Recent conflicts such as those in Syria, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan are increasingly characterised by a pluralisation of irregular and privatised forms of violence. These actors include, among others, warlords, mercenaries, terrorists, transnational organised crime groups, foreign fighters and Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). While some pose a direct challenge to the state, others are in a complementary and symbiotic relationship with it. As such, violent non-state actors are both competing and cooperating with state actors in modern conflicts and their hybrid nature raises questions with regards to how best to understand these actors, as they often escape neatly defined categorisations. In modern conflicts the lines between terrorists and organised crime groups, irregular and regular forces, as well as economic and political motivations to fight, are increasingly blurred. As a result, ‘new’ and ‘old’ types of violent non-state actors are defining elements of modern conflict.  The extreme complexity of twenty-first century conflicts requires a more integrated approach between military and civilian actors in order to respond more effectively to its challenges. * Violent Non-State Actors in Modern Conflict *

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9781912440207

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Reviews

If you want to understand VNSAs theoretically, conceptually and empirically, this book is the one to read. The clarity of understanding around the core concepts of VNSAs (sovereignty, statism, legitimacy and de-legitimacy for example) makes this volume ideal for undergraduate studies, in particular, in the area of New Wars. Personally, I see it as a core text on the topic. -- Christopher Kinsey,King's College London at the Joint Services Command and Staff College * Violent Non-State Actors in Modern Conflict *

If you want to understand VNSAs theoretically, conceptually and empirically, this book is the one to read.  The clarity of understanding around the core concepts of VNSAs (sovereignty, statism, legitimacy and de-legitimacy for example) makes this volume ideal for undergraduate studies, in particular, in the area of New Wars.  Personally, I see it as a core text on the topic. -- Christopher Kinsey,King’s College London at the Joint Services Command and Staff College * Violent Non-State Actors in Modern Conflict *

Author Information

David Brown is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He has written extensively on a range of security related issues, publishing books and articles on US and UK foreign and defence policy, contemporary power relations, aspects of European security and international intervention. His new research project is on understanding the development of Coalition foreign and defence policy in the UK. Previous Work War Amongst the People: Critical Assessments The Development of British Defence Policy: Blair, Brown and Beyond George W. Bush's Foreign Policy: Principles and Pragmatism Power Relations in the Twenty-First Century: Mapping a Multipolar World Multipolarity in the 21st Century   Donette Murray is a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. She holds a doctorate from the University of Ulster and an LLM in International Law from the University of Maastricht. Donette is the author of four books on US foreign policy, including US Foreign Policy and Iran: America-Iranian relations since the Islamic Revolution and Principles and Pragmatism: the evolving foreign policy of George W Bush 2001-2008 with David Brown and Martin A. Smith, and the co-editor of two volumes on Power in the twenty-first century. A former political advisor, she has also taught at Ulster University and the Queen’s University of Belfast. War Amongst the People: Critical Assessments George W. Bush's Foreign Policy: Principles and Pragmatism Power Relations in the Twenty-First Century: Mapping a Multipolar World Multipolarity in the 21st Century US Foreign Policy and Iran: American-Iranian Relations since the Islamic Revolution Kennedy, Macmillan and Nuclear Weapons America and the World since 1945   Malte Riemann is a senior lecturer in the Department of Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Dr Riemann studied in Bremen and Pietermaritzburg, and holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Reading. His research has been funded by the German Academic Exchange Service, the Earhart Foundation and the European International Studies Association. His fields of interest include the privatisation of war and its effects on the state’s legitimate monopoly on violence, the medicalization of security, and the historicity of non-state actors. He is currently in the process of writing a monograph in German on the transformation of war provisionally titled ‘War in the 20th and 21st Century’ and his most recent publication ‘Problematizing the medicalization of violence: A critical discourse analysis of the ‘Cure Violence’ initiative’ has just appeared in Critical Public Health. War Amongst the People: Critical Assessments   Norma Rossi is a senior lecturer in Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Dr Rossi studied in Rome and Paris and received her Ph.D. in Politics and International Relations from the University of Reading on an Earhart Foundation fellowship. In her current project she explores how violent non-state actors challenge state sovereignty with a specific focus on the Italian state and the Sicilian mafia. Her research shows how the Sicilian mafia and the Italian state have historically built their identities through opposing spatial, temporal and social narratives, which enable contesting claims to political authority. She has also written on the rise of far-right parties in Europe, specifically exploring how the politics of anxiety fuel distinctive dynamics between mainstream parties and the far right. Recently, she has extended her research interests to include Security Sector Reform and the role of education in conflict-affected environments. War Amongst the People: Critical Assessments   Martin A. Smith is Senior Lecturer in Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Prior to joining RMAS he was at the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, from where he received his Ph.D. in 1994. His main research interests are in the fields of international power, European security and US foreign policy. He is the author, co-author or editor of twelve books including most recently: The Foreign Policies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush: A Comparative Perspective, George W. Bush’s Foreign Policies: Principles and Pragmatism with David Brown & Donette Murray, Power in the Changing Global Order and NATO’s Post-Cold War Trajectory: Decline or Regeneration? with Mark Webber & James Sperling. His academic articles have appeared inter alia, in International Affairs, European Security, West European Politics, The Journal of Strategic Studies and Contemporary Security Policy. He is currently Guest Editing, with David Brown, a forthcoming special issue of Comparative Strategy. War Amongst the People: Critical Assessments George W. Bush's Foreign Policies: Principles and Pragmatism Russia and NATO since 1991: From Cold War Through Cold Peace to Partnership? Where is Nato Going? NATO in the first decade after the Cold War Building a Bigger Europe: EU and NATO Enlargements in Comparative Perspective NATO in South East Europe: Enlargement by Stealth On Rocky Foundations: NATO, the UN and Peace Operations in the Post Cold War Era The Kosovo Crisis and the Evolution of a Post Cold War European Security Julien serves as Head of Transnational Threats in the UK’s Stabilisation Unit, having previously worked in a range of analytical, policy and advisory-related roles. As such, he deploys frequently to fragile and conflicted states around the world to provide advice on interventions and responses to complex cross-border challenges. He holds a Masters in War Studies from King’s College, London and is a Doctoral candidate in International Security at the University of Leiden.  Col Grant Davies was previously a reservist Infantry Officer and has served as a British Army Legal Services officer for over 20 years. He has served on operations in Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Afghanistan. He has fulfilled a number of roles, including the senior legal advisor in Regional Command (South) and team leader of the Detention Oversight Team (both in Afghanistan). A graduate in International Relations and Strategic Studies from UCW, Aberystwyth, he also holds a master’s degree in Public International Law (King’s College London). He is a solicitor advocate and holds a judicial appointment as an assistant Coroner in the jurisdictions Dorset and Wiltshire. James Fargher specialises in the history and geopolitics of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. He completed a doctorate in War Studies at King’s College London in 2019 and has worked as a security analyst in London and Singapore, specialising in political risk and military analysis. Marina Miron – a fluent Russian speaker – gained a PhD in Strategic Studies in 2018 from the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Prior to her doctoral studies, Marina received a BA in Politics and American Studies (Jt. Hons) from the University of Nottingham and an MA in War and Contemporary Conflict from the same institution. Since 2012, she has worked as an assistant editor for the Infinity Journal. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Military Ethics at King’s College London. She has given several lectures on the contemporary theory of strategy (University of Alicante, Spain; NATO School Oberammergau, Germany), and presented at several conferences. Currently, Marina is working on a joint project with the Colombian Armed Forces, designed to further military ethics education within the aforementioned institution. Her research interests include Russian operations in Syria, strategic theory, theory of war, Clausewitz’s thought, ancient military thought, cyber-warfare and military ethics. Helene Olsen is a doctoral candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. She teaches in the Department of War Studies at King’s and at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham. Her research focuses on the use of mercenaries and their perceived illegitimacy, as well as the privatisation of security and military functions more broadly. Her work will feature in the forthcoming book Remote Warfare: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (2020).  Caroline Varin is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Regent’s University London and Associate Fellow at the London School of Economics. She is also CEO of Professors Without Borders, a London-based teaching NGO. Caroline has published extensively on violent non-state actors. Recent books include Mercenaries and the State (Routledge), Boko Haram and the War on Terror (Praeger), Violent Non-State Actors in Africa (Palgrave) and Security in Nigeria (Bloomsbury). Dr Jack Watling is a Research Fellow at RUSI, responsible for the study of Land Warfare. Jack's PhD examined the evolution of Britain’s policy responses to civil war in the early twentieth century. He has worked in Iraq, Mali, Rwanda, Brunei, and further afield, embedded with Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, and the Burkina Faso Army.   Abigail Watson is a Conflict and Security Policy Coordinator for Saferworld.

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