The Atlantic – When will America start to learn how to deal with the dynamic players that shape so many world events? A decade after 9/11 heralded the arrival of transnational terrorism on America’s doorstep, policymakers have paid a lot of attention to that particular threat — but they’ve displayed a remarkable poverty of the imagination in absorbing that power in today’s world is wielded by an array of important actors, and not just by traditional states.
The anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is prompting all kinds of reflection and remembrance, and for those who follow foreign and security policy it’s an occasion to process just how much international affairs is guided by what experts call, for lack of a more clear understanding, “non-state actors.”
