Non-State Actors and Foreign Policy Agency - Insights from Area Studies

This edited volume discusses non-state actors as agents of foreign policy. It questions whether non-state actors can act as foreign policy makers and if the contemporary role of non-state actors constitutes a theoretical challenge to foreign policy. Chapters demonstrate the impact of non-state entities through the lenses of their direct role as decision-makers, with examples drawn from the African continent, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. Arguing for the necessity of approaching foreign policy in a broader frame, beyond the scope of the state and the individual, the book fills a gap in the literature and creates a closer nexus between area studies and foreign policy. This volume will be of interest to both academics and practitioners across the fields of international relations, foreign policy analysis, and area studies.



Marianna Charountaki is Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Lincoln (UK). She is a BRISMES and BISA Trustee as well as co-convenor of BISA Foreign Policy Working Group. Her research lies at the intersection of International Relations theories, foreign policy analysis, and area studies with an emphasis on the Middle Eastern region. She has written extensively on non-state actors through the Kurdish case as well as on state-non-state interactions in international relations, including the latter's conceptualisation
Christos Kourtelis is a researcher at the Department of International, European and Area Studies at Panteion University (Greece). He completed his undergraduate degree in European Studies in Greece at the Hellenic Open University. He then continued his studies at LSE, where he obtained an MSc in Development Studies. Christos received his PhD in International Political Economy from the Department of European and International Studies at King's College London. Drawing from different perspectives of International Political Economy and International Relations, Christos' research focuses on the implementation of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) in North Africa and the political economy of EU-MENA relations.


Daniela Irrera is Professor of International Relations at the School of Advanced Defense Studies, in Rome (Italy), and Visiting Professor of Political Violence and Terrorism at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. She is member of the ECPR Executive Committee. Her research is focused on non-state actors' influence on global politics, both positive (civil society movements and NGOs) and negative (organized crime groups and terrorists).