Abstract
Violent Non-State Actors: The Politics of Territorial Governance is an original in-depth scholarly explanation of the impact of territorial penetration, control and governance on the effectiveness of the activities of violent non-state actors (VNSA). The theoretical framework operates with the assertion that a non-linear causal relationship mediated through the capacity for territorial control and governance exists between the effectiveness of objective achievement and territorial penetration.
Using four case studies, Zdeněk Ludvík links these interrelated concepts of territorial penetration, territorial control and territorial governance into an interrelated sequentially conceptualized causal framework. To this end, extensive and unique empirical material gathered to examine the activities of VNSA in considerable detail presents a wholly original and comprehensive method of measuring the degree of territorial capability of VNSA.
Zdeněk Ludvík demonstrates that there is no directly proportional relationship between territorial penetration and objective effectiveness, since neither territorial penetration nor territorial control alone are sufficient to achieve increased effectiveness. He shows that territorial penetration and territorial governance are necessary conditions for objective effectiveness, since only when territorial penetration and territorial control are followed by territorial governance at the level of advanced wartime social order can VNSA hope to achieve a higher degree of effectiveness.