ABSTRACT
Non-state actors relevant for maritime security are of bewildering number and variety. Such ubiquity means they often impact on maritime security problems, shape policy and provide solutions. However, because of their sheer diversity we need to be cautions in generalising about their significance. Core questions posed here include what is their varied “agency”, motivation and their institutional power? Moreover, are they truly distinct from and inferior to state actors? This chapter offers three discrete cases studies: maritime drug smugglers using “narco-submarines”; NGOs providing fishery protection; American “insider” think tanks, and “outsider” activists protesting at sea, both seeking to shape maritime security policy. It is argued that many such non-state actors have surprising levels of “hybrid” agency shared with states, and rather than draw sharp distinctions between them and state actors, we can note commonalities amidst some important distinctions.
