Introductory Study: Civil Society Actors and the International Protection Regime for Minorities

This article is a first step in a research project that studies the existence, identity and agency of civil society actors that engage directly with the international minority protection regime. It provides a preliminary description and typology of civil society actors focusing exclusively on minority protection and presents a dataset on these actors constructed from a wide range of sources, including the Yearbook of International Organizations. It also gives an insight into the agency and influence of civil society actors specialising in minority protection by looking at some of their strategies for norm entrepreneurship, also drawing from the findings of contributors to this special issue. By outlining a research agenda, this article identifies questions that explore the perspectives of civil society actors on the weaknesses and strengths of the current international minority protection regime with a view to identifying potential pathways for its improvement.