The Siege of Westphalia?

Non-state entities engaging in violent and criminal activities challenge the role of the state from different angles: as the centrepiece of politics, as the sole collector of revenues, as the enforcer or laws, as the exclusive mobilizer of military cadres, and as the monopolizer of legitimate violence. We identify three main consequences of non-state violence for a Westphalian-inspired understanding of the world. First – and basically – non-state violence is a challenge to states, in that it establishes an alternative to the monopoly of violence that is typically the hallmark of a functioning state. Second, as counterpoint to this challenge, non-state violence provokes unique state reactions that might unsettle Westphalianism itself, because of their lack of effectiveness or their side-effects. And third, by bridging the antagonism of state and non state violence, hybrid state/non-state forms may emerge, allowing a glimpse of how the Westphalian state world is actually ‘not-so-Westphalian’.