ABSTRACT
“In the next decades,” wrote Robert Rubinstein in the afterword of a recent volume on conflict resolution,
[I]t will become increasingly important for peace and conflict scholars to understand the dynamics of actors ‘below the level of the nation state’; that is, of citizens acting as individuals and in groups to effect change. Increasingly, citizens at a variety of levels of organization, from small voluntary associations through larger, more formally organized groupings, like nongovernmental organizations and activist organizations, are involved in defining the scope and nature of conflicts in the contemporary world. As a result, it is especially important that peace and conflict scholars develop frameworks for understanding how local groups project political authority, and how they gain standing among large groups of people and articulate these understandings through the political process. 1
