Facing Violence and Crime: Models of Non-State Actor Involvement in Governance

Abstract

Violence and crime have been a continuous challenge to states, and this book has shown how states and non-state actors cope with this problem. Defining violence and crime as overarching terms, the volume presented different governance efforts that included more passive and more active roles of non-state actors. As addressees, non-state actors cause governance problems through norm violation. Classical examples are rebel groups in civil wars or organized crime. In the case of delegation, non-state actors implement public regulations, thus executing functions that the state cannot or does not want to provide. Examples of this include banks that oversee financial transactions or internet providers that store traffic data. Non-state actors play an even more active role as co-regulators, when non-state actors become partners in governance and implementation. Prominent cases are public—private partnerships or self-regulatory schemes. Finally, non-state actors can act as advocates, which is the most autonomous role. In this case, they initiate and consult on governance as moral entrepreneurs or lobbyists. Against this background, the introductory chapter presented different roles of non-state actors in terms of an ‘interaction triangle’.