1) Introduction

2) Terminology, typology

(state, quasi-state, non-state actors, types of violent non-state actors)

3) Post-Cold War system and the non-state actors

(importance of VNSAs in the post-Cold War system)

4) Warlords – Afghanistan, Somalia, LRA

(warlords and the state failure, self-interest in governance, cases of 1990s Afghanistan and Somalia and Lord´s Resistance Army)

5) Proxy warfare (Yemen, Afghanistan)

(definition of proxy warfare, relevance and impacts of proxy warfare in the 21st century, cases of Yemen, Afghanistan)

6) Jihadist groups, pt. 1 – global struggle (AQ Central x Daesh)

(globalist jihadist groups, networking x territorial approach, grand strategies of Al-Qaeda and Daesh)

7) Jihadist groups, pt. 2 – local groups (Hezbollah, Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Hamas)

(jihadist groups and territory, nationalism vs. Islamism, affiliation to global movements, cases of Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram)

8) Syrian war

(application of the previous findings on Syrian and Iraqi civil wars)

9) Narco gangs – Latin America

(VNSAs and organized crime, crime and violence, narco-terrorism, Colombia and Central America)

10) From ideology to profit – FARC, Taliban

(ideological-criminal nexus, turn from ideology to business, cases of Taliban and FARC)

11) Ethno-nationalist groups – LTTE, Kurds, Myanmar

(ethno-nationalism in the post-Cold War world, militias vs. State, cases of Tamil Tigers, Kurds, and Myanmar minorities)

12) Countering the violent non-state actors (Chechnya, Iraq 2006/7)

(strategies to counter VNSAs, state-building and out-governing vs. violence, return of VNSAs, cases Chechnya, Iraq (AQI 2006/7), Daesh)