What is an international actor?

The question was considered as trivial

when the states were the only actors

of the international system.

But we are now in a new world

in which states are no more the unique actors

and even probably are not dominant actors

we have to take into account non state actors.

The question could be:

What is an actor?

An actor is one who is acting

on the international system,

but also an actor is expected to act

on the international arena.

We have to take into account

what is expected on the international arena.

Now many kinds of actors are expected

on the international arena.

I mean of course multinational corporations,

but also NGOs, but also transnational medias,

and also all the individuals

who are constituting the world by now,

that’s to say about 7 billion people

around the world.

All of us we are international actors

because we are consuming,

because we are watching international TV,

because we are travelling,

because we are surfing on Internet and so on…

So we have to understand what is at stake

when we are acting as international actors

on the arena.

We are probably,

creating several billions of interactions

on the international arena,

and in social science it’s very difficult

to analysis and to understand

all these new kinds of actions

which are not promoted by states

but by individuals.

That’s why, with these new kinds of actors,

we have to take into account

four levels of analysis.

The first one would be

an international civil society

which is more and more taking place,

that’s to say all these exchanges

which are initiated both by individual actors

but also by organized actors,

but organized non state actors.

The second will be an international public space.

If I take the word

which has been coined by Jürgen Habermas,

the famous German philosopher.

That’s to say more and more

there is a kind of international debate

which takes place with an emerging

international public opinion

with an emerging debate

which is gathering all the kinds

of actors playing in the international arena.

The third level will be the criminalization

of the international arena.

The more actors are diversified

the more criminalization takes place

as one of the major flows

on the international relations.

And there is a kind of interplaying

between international political actors

and mafia and all the criminal networks

which are playing on this international arena.

This interplaying is something probably new

and more and more important,

it is at stake now when we consider

the main events on the political sphere

of international relations.

And the fourth one will be ethnicization of the world.

If now states have no more the exclusivity

of international affairs,

it means that identity entrepreneurs

play a very important role

on the international arena

interplaying with the other actors

and giving to the ethnic issue

an important role

in structuring the political debate,

the international debate.

So Ladies and Gentlemen,

what does it mean non state actors?

I will propose a definition, I rarely do that,

but I think that this concept is so important

now that you have to agree

on a very clear definition.

I will say that non state actors

are all kinds of actors

who deliberately or not

are active inside the international arena

by overcoming or even ignoring

nation state sovereignty, border lines,

and who try to be free of any kinds of control,

and especially of political control.

That’s to say that,

we are facing a new dynamic

in international arena.

Why a new dynamic?

Because these non state actors

are overcoming distance,

that’s to say that territory

is less and less meaningful,

is less and less constraining.

And with the increasing mass communication,

interplaying between non state actors

is more and more emancipated

from the territorial support,

and remember that territorial support

was one of the main components

of the traditional nation-state

and is a condition, a clear condition,

of national sovereignty.

So we have to put in perspective

these two trends, in one hand

this abolition of distance and territory,

in the second hand this new kind

of interaction between these

more and more numerous non state actors.

The second change is something very important,

it’s what Karl Deutsch coined

as “social mobilisation”.

That’s to say social mobilisation is the process

by which individuals get emancipated

from the traditional communities.

Urbanization, education

but also increasing influences of media

are creating this social mobilization.

You understand that this social mobilization

is more and more transnational

as it is supported by media,

international transnational medias

and also by these new agents like NGOs.

And the third consequence is probably

a decreasing capacity of states,

that’s why probably politics

is now in crisis with this new order

in which non state actors have deprived

states from its monopoly of legitimate violence.

That’s to say that there is a new kind

of international violence

which is no more a legitimate violence

but which is jeopardizing

the international stability

and the international peace.

These are transnational actors.

We will say that these transnational actors

have relations between each other,

that’s why we will coin this new concept

of transnational relations.

And you understand that transnational relation is

different from international relation.

That’s why I would even suggest

to move to inter social relation

which is getting more and more important

and which is marginalizing the concept

of international and interstate relations.

The second concept, that has been coined

and especially by James Rosenau,

is the concept of transnational flows.

That’s to say

when these relations are permanent,

when it’s reproducing itself,

it means that there are flows

and these flows are shaping, structuring

the new world order

much more than the interstate power competition.

And, at last, these transformations result

in coining this very important concept

of transnational network,

transnational network shed the light

on the informal dimension

of these transnational relations.

What is a network?

A network is the strengths of weak ties.

The formula has been coined by Mark Granovetter,

the famous sociologist Granovetter,

who has put the finger on something very important,

that’s to say we are now in a world

in which weak ties, informal ties,

are much more important than institutional,

and formal and visible ties.

We can find many examples

of these transnational networks,

of this invisible interactions between actors.

The most famous will be for instance

alumni of great universities.

If you take into account for example

the MIT network,

you will observe that the main economic actors

around the world are coming from MIT

and they were there interplaying

and they are still now interplaying.

And they are also socialised by the main culture,

by the main training, by the main professors,

and sometimes these professors

are getting a new job

in the economic affairs in the world.

Of course, you won’t find among this elite

actors of African or even Latin American states.

So, these transnational networks

are shaping, structuring, giving sense

to this new world much more than

the traditional powers or the military powers.

Now you have

two kinds of transnational actors.

The first would be what I will call

aggregated actors that to say individuals

who are aggregated for creating

a transnational flows as we defined it.

For instance, investors but also migrants

are considered as aggregated

transnational actors,

non-organized but the social reality

is resulting from their individual initiatives.

And I will discriminate between

these aggregated transnational actors

and entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs are then defined

according to the Weberian vision

as an organized group which is directed

with very precise goals and with a clear strategy.

Among these entrepreneurs we can find of course

multinational corporations but also NGOs

but also some religious actors.

The Roman Catholic Church is an entrepreneur

according to the Weberian definition,

but also we can consider that transnational media

are transnational entrepreneurs.

So this is the global vision

of transnational actors.

Now we will move

to the description of some of them.

The Growing Capacity of Non State Actors

Espace mondial, a French vision of Global studies

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