About NSAGs

 Background

Over the past two decades academics and policy-makers have increasingly turned their attention to the role of transnational and non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in contemporary violent conflicts. For some analysts, the dynamics of armed conflicts involving such groups has change the nature of contemporary warfare, challenged existing understandings of the laws of war, and called into question the traditional conflict management and resolution strategies of policy-makers and external parties. Others see contemporary non-state armed groups as part of a longer historical trajectory in which the state’s practical monopoly over the use of force waxes and wanes, creating spaces for non-state armed groups. In general, however, analysts and policy-makers still lack a comprehensive and synthetic understanding of the dynamics and impact of such groups, although a variety of concepts and theoretical approaches have been recently advanced regarding the motivations of such groups, their structure, origins and means of recruitment, their relationship with state actors, the micro-dynamics of conflicts, and means of engagement with them.

Definitions

In this database, the expression “non-state armed groups” (hereinafter “NSAG”) is used generically to describe armed groups — both transnational and national — that have the capacity to challenge the state's monopoly of legitimate force.". Although they can play a significant role in terms of international relations, these groups are not formal members of the international society. Transnational non-state armed groups are groups that use force, flow across state boundaries, utilize global communication and transportation networks, seek global influence and to communicate with a wider audience, and increasingly undertake military operations against dominant states.

The criterion used for the classification of non-state armed groups in this database is based on the territorial reach of the armed operations of the concerned NSAG.

Accordingly, the distinction between national and transnational NSAG is a follows:

• A NSAG is considered as a national one when the territorial reach of its armed operations is predominantly limited to the territory of one State and its government.

• A NSAG is considered as a transnational one when a significant part of its armed operations occurs in more than one country or is directed against foreign troops or citizens.

This classification has only been made for methodological purposes and is not designed as a legal qualification of any sort.