actorsstates

Actorsstates is a term used in political science and sociotechnical studies to describe a mode of governance in which the boundaries between state authority and other influential actors are permeable, and where multiple actors exercise state-like influence within and across traditional territorial boundaries. The concept highlights the role of non-state actors such as international organizations, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations, subnational authorities, and digital platforms that participate in decision-making, standard-setting, and enforcement, either independently or in close collaboration with formal state institutions.

In practice, actorsstates emphasizes distributed authority, networked governance, and non-territorial jurisdiction in areas such as cybersecurity, environmental policy, data governance, and humanitarian response. It is used to analyze how policy emerges from interactions among diverse actors rather than from a single sovereign entity.

Critics argue that the term risks vagueness and conflating different kinds of authority; supporters say it captures contemporary governance dynamics more accurately than traditional state-centric models. Proponents view actorsstates as a descriptive shortcut for describing modern policy processes in which non-state actors wield formal or de facto influence comparable to state actors in specific domains.

Origin and usage: The phrase has appeared in interdisciplinary literature since the early 21st century, though there is no single canonical definition. It is often discussed in relation to governance networks, actor-network theory, and multi-level or public-private governance frameworks.

See also: actor-network theory, governance networks, multi-level governance, public-private partnership.