The ‘Not-a-Cat’ Syndrome: Can the International Human Rights Regime Accommodate Non-State Actors?
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Description
When one of my daughters was eighteen months old she deftly transcended her linguistic limitations by describing a rabbit, a mouse, or a kangaroo as a ‘not-a-cat’. In the arenas of international law and human rights an almost identical technique is pervasive. Civil society actors are described as non-governmental organizations. Terrorist groups or others threatening the state’s monopoly of power are delicately referred to as non-state actors. But so too are transnational corporations and multinational banks, despite their somewhat more benign influence. International institutions, including those which wield immense influence while disavowing all pretensions to exercise authority per se, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, are classified either as non-state entities or as non-state actors.
Source Publication
Non-State Actors and Human Rights
Source Editors/Authors
Philip Alston
Publication Date
2005
Recommended Citation
Alston, Philip G., "The ‘Not-a-Cat’ Syndrome: Can the International Human Rights Regime Accommodate Non-State Actors?" (2005). Faculty Chapters. 41.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/41
