The Interplay Between Territorial Control and Violent Non-State Actors (VNSAs)

Abstract

The conundrum of the violent non-state actors (VNSAs) became the center of gravity in global politico-military settings especially after the disappearance of “patron-proxy” relationships. The threat to the authority of the central administration in internationally recognized boundaries by both deploying an assortment of tactics and more sophisticated structural stand points strengthened their competence. On the other side, social, economic, religious, environmental, and demographic conditions of the current century also contributed minacious divaricated frondeurs to sprout up. This chapter examines the interplay between territorial control and VNSA. There are empirical case studies related to the position of the VNSAs in the relevant literature, but little is known about the interplay between them that leads to governance functions and even foreign policy. The intention is to substantiate how these actors created legitimacy that ended up in almost all state activities although they are not recognized internationally.