THE ‘RETREAT OF THE STATE’ AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF NON-STATE ACTORS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: A THEORETICAL ASSESSMENT
THE ‘RETREAT OF THE STATE’ AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF NON-STATE ACTORS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: A THEORETICAL ASSESSMENT

Summary/Abstract: The second half of the 20th century saw the emergence of an unprecedented number of non-state entities, varying from conventional intergovernmentalorganizations, to nongovernmental organizations, multinational companies and othertransnational forces challenging the centuries old dominant position detained by the state onthe international scene. Demystifying these new categories of actors has also created somehardship for the IR scholars, who found it really difficult to fit them within the existentscholarly literature elaborated around the state-centric approach promoted by the realistparadigm. Accordingly, the current study wishes to explore the rise of non-state actors froma theoretical perspective, departing from the presumption that their appearance refutes thestate-centric vision promoted by the realist/neorealist scholarship and can be moreefficiently addressed by implementing the liberal pluralist or the constructivist approach.

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