Words of Compliance and Contestation - Rebel Groups in Kosovo and Sri Lanka and the Discourse of International Norms

This book discusses norm adoption and contestation by violent non-state actors. It demonstrates that rebel groups use international norms in their discourse and echo patterns in the discourse of states and that these groups do so to promote their own legitimacy at key turning points in their conflicts. It takes the understanding of norm adoption among non-state actors beyond the simple consideration of high-profile actions on the world stage, such as signing on to international treaties, to the earliest phases of this process at the day-to-day local level. By tracking rebel groups' own statements over time alongside key points in their conflicts, this volume gives insight into their adoption of the language and the behaviors associated with these norms - and how groups comply with or contest these norms. Two rebel groups are examined in this study over the course of their conflicts: the Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The international norms under analysis are human rights, international humanitarian law, genocide, and norms against terrorism. As such, the volume will appeal to students and academics straddling several different fields: human rights, international law (with a focus on human right law and international humanitarian law), war and peace, civil wars, conflict and rebel groups and international norms.

List of contents

Chapter 1: Rebel Groups and International Norms:Setting the Stage.- Chapter 2: Background on the Kosovo and Sri Lanka cases.- Chapter 3: Patterns of change:A state to non-state level comparison.- Chapter 4: Human rights and international humanitarian law:Evidence of incorporation of norms into the discourse of rebel groups.- Chapter 5: We were fighting a clean war :Rebel groups and the norm against the practice of terrorism.- Chapter 6: Conclusion.

Product details

• Authors: Jennifer Mueller
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 11.06.2026
• EAN: 9783032160072
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3216007-2
• Illustrations: Approx. 300 p. 18 illus., 11 illus. in color.
• Series: Non-State Actors in International Relations
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Comparative and international political science; Sri Lanka, Kosovo, Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte, Internationales Öffentliches Recht: Humanitäres Recht, auseinandersetzen, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, International Relations Theory, International Security Studies, International humanitarian law, International Humanitarian Law, Law of Armed Conflict, Politics and Human Rights, Non-State Actors, Human Rights Law, Norm contestation, Kosovo Liberation Army, rebel groups, norm adoption