Non-state Actors in World Politics: the Lessons

Abstract

That non-state actors play an active role in international politics cannot be doubted. Nor can the manifold nature of this role. Business groupings, representatives of social movements and experts all contribute to setting the agenda of international negotiations and defining the objectives of domestic foreign policies. So do, in a less overt and often indirect way, the ethnic groups, mafias, mercenaries and terrorist organizations that seem to call into question the very notions of state boundaries and national security. Research institutes provide training and educational services, as do trade unions and NGOs. The same organizations undertake studies and evaluations in areas such as labour and environmental standards, corruption, nuclear non-proliferation agreements. Importantly, the input of NSAs is both material and normative, and can be witnessed at different levels: in their targeting of prominent political actors of course, but also in the activities of grass-roots organizations — Paul Wapner’s ‘world civic activism’ (Wapner 1996) — or in the way new forms of resource extraction, production and technological development adopted by multinational corporations affect the environment. In this chapter we focus on the key lessons about the impact of non-governmental actors on national politics and international cooperation that have been drawn out by the preceding case studies.