Intrastate conflicts, such as civil wars and ethnic confrontations, are the predominant form of organized violence in the world today. But internal strife can destabilize entire regions, drawing in people living beyond state borders - particularly those who share ideology, ethnicity, or kinship with one of the groups involved. These non-state actors may not be enlisted in formal armies or political parties, but they can play a significant role in a conflict. For example, when foreign volunteer forge alliances with domestic groups, they tend to attract other foreign interventions and may incite the state to centralize its power. Diasporan populations, depending on their connection to their homeland, might engage politically through financial support or overt aggression either exacerbating or mitigating the conflict. This work takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the ways external individuals and groups become entangled with volatile states and how they influence the outcome of hostilities within a country's borders.

The 'modern Sherwood Forest': theoretical and practical challenges /Oren Barak and Chanan Cohen -- Framing to win: the transnational recruitment of foreign insurgents / David Malet -- State, society, and transnational networks: the Arab volunteers in the Afghan War (1984-1990) / Avraham Sela and Robert A. Fitchette -- A conceptual framework for understanding the roles of diasporas in intrastate conflicts / Gabriel Sheffer -- Turkey's dual problem: between Armenia and the Armenian diaspora / Nava Lowenheim -- Turkey, the Kurds, and Turkey's incursions into Iraq: the effects of securitization and desecuritization processes / Gallia M. Lindenstrauss -- From a militia to a diasporic community: the changing identity of the South Lebanese Army / Orit Gazit -- Domestic-regional interactions and outside intervention in intrastate conflicts: insights from Lebanon / Avraham Sela and Oren Barak.