ABSTRACT
From the vantage point of international law, the role and status of non-state actors, despite being the objects of much scholarly attention, remain a topic of significant complexity, for they simultaneously raise conceptual as well as dynamic issues. Once the legal scholarship eventually elevated law-making processes or standard setting into a noble topic worthy of scholarly inquiry, its attention became automatically drawn to the participation of actors that do not qualify as formal legal subjects. In pursuing that twofold objective, this book will look at non-state actors both as participants in international law-making and law-enforcement processes as well as objects of regulations. Moreover, although it is primarily focused on legal questions and the legal scholarship pertaining to non-state actors, the study undertaken here will not exclude cross-cutting interdisciplinary inquiries. Penelope Mathew portrays refugee law as a response to a private actor who crosses sovereign boundaries.
