The Impact of Non-State Violent Actors on State-Nation Challenge in North Africa and the Middle East with Emphasis on Post-Arab Spring Developments

The Arab world has witnessed two intertwined phenomena since the Arab Spring: The first has been the deterioration of the internal situation in countries where many countries such as Libya, Syria and Yemen have experienced the risk of collapse, while many others like Lebanon suffers from internal weakness. The second was the emergence of non-state violent actors (VNSAS), such as terrorist jihadists, warlords, organized crime syndicates and armed militias affiliated with political parties and tribes. The second phenomenon is the natural consequence of the first. When a government fails, it cannot monopolize the use of force, complete control of its territory and secure its borders. These conditions create a security and political vacuum that is a suitable environment for the spread of violent non-state actors.  Currently, in the Arab countries, the role of such actors has made the efforts for peace more difficult and complicated for the government. This article aims to analyze the causes of the state-nation crisis in the post-Arab world, focusing on answering the following fundamental question: What are the reasons for the formation and spread of violent non-state actors in the Arab world? The provisional answer to these questions is that the complex and multilayered combination of economic, socio-religious and political factors and the crisis of legitimacy and the continued intervention of foreign countries to support or suppress terrorist groups have fueled insecurity and increased conflict. Factors have led to the emergence of non-state violent actors in the Arab world.