Activities of sub-state actors in international relations: theoretical aspects

International relations are in a stage of deep transformation today. Among other things, the composition of actors in international relations and world politics is changing. The role of non-traditional players is becoming increasingly important. The number of non-traditional actors include non-governmental and non-profit organizations, transnational corporations, social and national liberation movements, etc. Among them stand out sub-state / subnational actors in international relations. This includes internal regions of the states. The article examines the theoretical aspects of sub-state actors in international relations. The author believes that today the state's regions are the most specific international actors. This is due to the fact that they differ significantly from traditional and other non-traditional players in the international relations. To justify this thesis, the article considers the problems of globalization and regionalization, the formation of new levels of international relations, the analysis of foreign practices of subnational international relations, peculiarities of sub-state actors; analyzes the issues of sovereignty and legal personality and the national regulatory framework. Examples of Russian and foreign practices are given as examples. The information basis of the article includes the works of leading Russian specialists in the sphere of international activities of subnational actors and research data on related issues. The analytical and synthetic processing of the received information allows to develop the subject of the study. The theoretical and methodological basis of research is multi-disciplinary in nature and relies on methods used in historical and political sciences. The article uses a historical-genetic method and logical-intuitive modeling. As a result, the author comes to a conclusion that the high degree of specificity of sub-state actors is due to their "state" origin, to the use of specific tools and to the political-legal status both at the level of national and international legislation. In the academic sense, the further study of the topic will accelerate the formation of an independent segment of the international relations theory on international activities of sub-state actors. The study of the specifics of sub-national actors in international relations has great potential and in practical terms can play an important role in changing the current negative situation in some states where there are problems of implementation of the international potential of their regions. This fully applies to Russia.

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