The Investor and Civil Society as Twin Global Citizens: Proposing a New Interpretation in the Legitimacy Debate

Abstract

I. Introduction: The rise of the private sector actor in international relations and international law The rise to international prominence of the private sector actor has been extensively registered, discussed, and debated for at least two decades. The phenomenon correlates with the process of globalization, the transforming role of the Westphalian nation-state, and perhaps, as some scholars have suggested, with the rise and fall of empires (e.g., the "American Empire") and the emergence of neo-medievalism. Among the new terminology developed in this discourse, the concept of NSA has come to encapsulate the change in the role of the private sector actor. The NSA, which serves to distinguish the state from all other actors, comprises four main types of actors: not-for profit non-governmental individuals and groups, both national and transnational, loosely grouped under the term of "civil society;" national economic enterprises and multi-national corporations (MNCs), which represent the for-profit version of the former; national and transnational armed opposition groups and their counter-parts represented by para-military actors and the private military industry and services, embodying the interests of "armed force" non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and, sometimes, inter-governmental organizations.

Keywords: Civil Society, global citizen, debate