Researching Non-state Actors in International Security: Theory and Practice

by Andreas Kruck (Editor), Andrea Schneiker (Editor)

Overview

This volume provides researchers and students with a discussion of a broad range of methods and their practical application to the study of non-state actors in international security.

All researchers face the same challenge, not only must they identify a suitable method for analysing their research question, they must also apply it. This volume prepares students and scholars for the key challenges they confront when using social-science methods in their own research. To bridge the gap between knowing methods and actually employing them, the book not only introduces a broad range of interpretive and explanatory methods, it also discusses their practical application. Contributors reflect on how they have used methods, or combinations of methods, such as narrative analysis, interviews, qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), case studies, experiments or participant observation in their own research on non-state actors in international security. Moreover, experts on the relevant methods discuss these applications as well as the merits and limitations of the various methods in use. Research on non-state actors in international security provides ample challenges and opportunities to probe different methodological approaches. It is thus particularly instructive for students and scholars seeking insights on how to best use particular methods for their research projects in International Relations (IR), security studies and neighbouring disciplines. It also offers an innovative laboratory for developing new research techniques and engaging in unconventional combinations of methods.

This book will be of much interest to students of non-state security actors such as private military and security companies, research methods, security studies and International Relations in general.

The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.routledge.com/Researching-Non-state-Actors-in-International-Security-Theory-and-Practice/Kruck-Schneiker/p/book/9780367141561, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317365297
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/28/2017
Series:	Routledge Critical Security Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	270
Sales rank:	756,392
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Andreas Kruck is Assistant Professor of Global Governance at Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany, and co-author of International Organization (2012).

Andrea Schneiker is Professor of Political Science at the University of Siegen, Germany, and author of Humanitarian NGOs, (In)Security and Identity (Routledge, 2015).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Researching Non-State Actors in International Security – A Multitude of Challenges, a Plurality of Approaches, Andreas Kruck and Andrea Schneiker

2. Conceptualizing Political Violence of Non-State Actors in International Security Research, Andreas Armborst

Part I: Interpreting Texts

3. Rebels without a Cause: Narrative Analysis as a Method for Research on Rebel Movements, Alexander Spencer

4. PMSCs and Twitter: Sentiment Analysis as a Tool for Evaluating Social Media Data, Magnus Dau and Marlen Martin

5. Semi-Structured Interviews with Non-State and Security Actors, Anja Mihr

6. Combining Semi-Structured Interviews and Document Analysis in a Study of Private Security Expertise, Joakim Berndtsson

7. Discussion Chapter: Comments on "Interpreting Texts", Jutta Joachim

Part II: Establishing Causal Claims

8. (Comparative) Case Studies: Combining Case Study Techniques for the Causal Analysis of Security Privatization, Andreas Kruck

9. Qualitative Comparative Analysis and the Study of Non-State Actors, Patrick Mello

10. Geospatial Analyses of Non-State Actors in Violent Conflicts, Alexander De Juan

11. Discussion Chapter: Shadow Boxing in Plato’s Cave: Assessing Causal Claims, Bertjan Verbeek

Part III: Doing Fieldwork

12. An Ethnographic Approach to Non-State Security: Participation Observation among Private Security Officers, Tessa Diphoorn

13. Using Experimental Methods in Post-Conflict Countries to Understand the Effects of Gender Reforms in the Liberian National Police, Sabrina Karim

14. Empirical Assessment of (Policy) Effectiveness: The Role of Business in Zones of Conflict, Melanie Coni-Zimmer and Klaus Dieter Wolf

15. Discussion Chapter: Practicing Reflexivity in Field Research, Jacqui True

Conclusions and Perspectives for Researching Non-State Actors in International Security

16. From Cookbooks to Dictionaries in the Making: Methodological Perspectives for Research of Non-State Actors and Processes, Anna Leander

Editorial Reviews

'..the volume as a whole offers a valuable glance into the world of researching non-state actors in international security and is refreshingly open about the challenges and trade-offs most of us face in our work. I therefore warmly recommended it to all those studying the subject.'—Hilde van Meegdenburg, International Affairs, vol. 94(5)

'Researching Non-State Actors in International Security provides readers with an insightful overview of some of the methodological options available to them, and encourages them to apply them in as fuid, refective, and imaginative a manner as the nature of their analyses demands.'—Giancarlo Fiorella, Security Journal vol. 32 (2019)

From the Publisher