LISD Associate Research Scholar, Anne-Marie Gardner, presented a lunch seminar talk, "Democratic Governance and Non-State Actors," at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 31 in 012 Bendheim Hall. Her talk was based on her recently published book, Democratic Governance and Non-State Actors (Palgrave, 2011).

Gardner's talk focused on answering the question: are international standards of good governance applied to sub-state actors as well as to states? By examining the international response to self-determination claims, Gardner demonstrates that the international community does indeed hold sub-state groups accountable to such standards. Gardner argues that claimant groups that have internalized human rights and democratic norms are more likely to receive international support in the form of empowerment (promoting some form of self-governance). Applying the posited framework to the Kosovo self-determination claim shows how the international community attempts to socialize non-state actors to standards of democratic governance.

Anne-Marie Gardner has published and conducted research on self-determination, human rights, and causes of conflict. In addition to her 2011 book, she has published in International Peacekeeping on the role of international law in the Western Sahara self-determination conflict and co-edited a volume on human rights, The Globalization of Human Rights, with Michael W. Doyle and Jean-Marc Coicaud. Her areas of research interest include new dimensions of state sovereignty and international standards for good governance; the interaction of international law and politics; causes of conflict and conflict resolution, including intra-state conflict and “new” security threats; and the role of non-state actors, ideas, and norms in international relations.