Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) and the Quest for Accountability

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000022536
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) and the Quest for Accountability by : George Andreopoulos

Download or read book Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) and the Quest for Accountability written by George Andreopoulos and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-18 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) have constituted a perennial feature of the security landscape. Yet, it is their involvement in and conduct during the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have transformed the outsourcing of security services into such a pressing public policy and world-order issue. The PMSCs’ ubiquitous presence in armed conflict situations, as well as in post-conflict reconstruction, their diverse list of clients (governments in the developed and developing world, non-state armed groups, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and international corporations) and, in the context of armed conflict situations, involvement in instances of gross misconduct, have raised serious accountability issues. The prominence of PMSCs in conflict zones has generated critical questions concerning the very concept of security and the role of private force, a rethinking of "essential governmental functions," a rearticulation of the distinction between public/private and global/local in the context of the creation of new forms of "security governance," and a consideration of the relevance, as well as limitations, of existing regulatory frameworks that include domestic and international law (in particular international human rights law and international humanitarian law). This book critically examines the growing role of PMSCs in conflict and post-conflict situations, as part of a broader trend towards the outsourcing of security functions. Particular emphasis is placed on key moral, legal, and political considerations involved in the privatization of such functions, on the impact of outsourcing on security governance, and on the main challenges confronting efforts to hold PMSCs accountable through a combination of formal and informal, domestic as well as international, regulatory mechanisms and processes. It will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, practitioners and advocates for a more transparent and humane security order. This book was published as a special issue of Criminal Justice Ethics.

UN Use of Private Military and Security Companies

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Publisher : Ubiquity Press
ISBN 13 : 1911529307
Total Pages : 83 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (115 download)

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Book Synopsis UN Use of Private Military and Security Companies by : Åse Gilje Østensen

Download or read book UN Use of Private Military and Security Companies written by Åse Gilje Østensen and published by Ubiquity Press. This book was released on 2011-11-09 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although subject to little discussion, the UN has increasingly paid private military and security companies (PMSCs) for a range of services in the areas of humanitarian affairs, peacebuilding and development. However, this practice has rarely translated into coherent policies or guidelines that could guide the UN in setting standards or ensuring responsible contracting procedures. This paper explores UN demand for PMSCs and identifies the need for a more proactive, sensitive and deliberate political approach in order to avoid potential pitfalls associated with involving PMSCs in the delivery of UN tasks.

The Power and Accountability of Private Military and Security Companies

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 17 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis The Power and Accountability of Private Military and Security Companies by : Hannah Tonkin

Download or read book The Power and Accountability of Private Military and Security Companies written by Hannah Tonkin and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this Chapter, Hannah Tonkin examines in detail the challenges that confront states in supervising and managing private military and security companies (PMSCs) effectively in the field, particularly in weak or conflict-prone states. Effective management of PMSCs is problematic and the stakes are high. For example, there is the potential for PMSCs to challenge state authority and even impede, in the long term, the development of strong public institutions. The rapid proliferation of PMSCs in the 1990s led to a paradigm shift in military security, raising the question of whether democratic constraints are still valid and sufficient for the new institutions that dominate the use of force. Tonkin argues that states have been slow to adjust and have taken inadequate measures to constrain the use of force. There have been recent improvements, however. Tonkin suggests that for PMSCs to fulfill fundamental values, such as the achievement of physical security, their use of force must be democratically constrained. She concludes the chapter with a discussion of improvements in the regulation of PMSCs and the broader questions that remain to be addressed.

Private Military and Security Companies

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134081863
Total Pages : 311 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Military and Security Companies by : Andrew Alexandra

Download or read book Private Military and Security Companies written by Andrew Alexandra and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-10-16 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past twenty years, Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) have become significant elements of national security arrangements, assuming many of the functions that have traditionally been undertaken by state armies. Given the centrality of control over the use of coercive force to the functioning and identity of the modern state, and to international order, these developments clearly are of great practical and conceptual interest. This edited volume provides an interdisciplinary overview of PMSCs: what they are, why they have emerged in their current form, how they operate, their current and likely future military, political, social and economic impact, and the moral and legal constraints that do and should apply to their operation. The book focuses firstly upon normative issues raised by the development of PMSCs, and then upon state regulation and policy towards PMSCs, examining finally the impact of PMSCs on civil-military relations. It takes an innovative approach, bringing theory and empirical research into mutually illuminating contact. Includes contributions from experts in IR, political theory, international and corporate law, and economics, and also breaks important new ground by including philosophical discussions of PMSCs.

Private Security, Public Order

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Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191610275
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Security, Public Order by : Simon Chesterman

Download or read book Private Security, Public Order written by Simon Chesterman and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-11-05 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Private actors are increasingly taking on roles traditionally arrogated to the state. Both in the industrialized North and the developing South, functions essential to external and internal security and to the satisfaction of basic human needs are routinely contracted out to non-state agents. In the area of privatization of security functions, attention by academics and policy makers tends to focus on the activities of private military and security companies, especially in the context of armed conflicts, and their impact on human rights and post-conflict stability and reconstruction. The first edited volume emerging from New York University School of Law's Institute for International Justice project on private military and security companies, From Mercenaries to Market: The Rise and Regulation of Private Military Companies broadened this debate to situate the private military phenomenon in the context of moves towards the regulation of activities through market and non-market mechanisms. Where that first volume looked at the emerging market for use of force, this second volume looks at the transformations in the nature of state authority. Drawing on insights from work on privatization, regulation, and accountability in the emerging field of global administrative law, the book examines private military and security companies through the wider lens of private actors performing public functions. In the past two decades, the responsibilities delegated to such actors - especially but not only in the United States - have grown exponentially. The central question of this volume is whether there should be any limits on government capacity to outsource traditionally "public" functions. Can and should a government put out to private tender the fulfilment of military, intelligence, and prison services? Can and should it transfer control of utilities essential to life, such as the supply of water? This discussion incorporates numerous perspectives on regulatory and governance issues in the private provision of public functions, but focuses primarily on private actors offering services that impact the fundamental rights of the affected population.

Private Military and Security Companies in International Law

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781780681825
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (818 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Military and Security Companies in International Law by : Corinna Seiberth

Download or read book Private Military and Security Companies in International Law written by Corinna Seiberth and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many states view Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) as crucial to implementing their security policy. However, reoccurring incidents of human rights violations have led the international community, private sector, and civil society to acknowledge the need for more control over the use of PMSCs. Growing state support for The Montreux Document and an ever growing number of signatory companies to the International Code of Conduct for Security Providers (ICoC) show that self-regulation through non-binding norms has shifted to the center of the debate. This book examines the promises and dangers of emerging non-binding PMSC regulation alongside more traditional forms of law-making, such as plans for an international convention on the use of PMSCs. It offers an in-depth analysis of legal and political developments that led to the proliferation of The Montreux Document and the ICoC. Identifying the state side of duties and corporate responsibility as leaving gaps and grey zones in international law, the book analyzes how both instruments address 'the responsibility to protect' and 'the responsibility to respect.' Covering the Private Security Providers' Association's Articles of Association, the most recent developments on the establishment of a PMSC oversight mechanism are included. Finally, the book provides an original theory of how both instruments could become more effective to protect victims against PMSC human rights violations: The Montreux Document, by developing into a form of customary international law, and the standards of the ICoC framework, by developing into more binding normative standards as a form of 'corporate custom.'

Regulating Private Military and Security Contractors Through Social Accountability

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Regulating Private Military and Security Contractors Through Social Accountability by : Katherine R. Loscher

Download or read book Regulating Private Military and Security Contractors Through Social Accountability written by Katherine R. Loscher and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Private military and security contractors (PMSCs) are a common feature to the modern battlespace. As the market for force and the demand for PMSCs continues to grow, so has the concern amongst scholars and researchers of international relations on how to properly regulate these actors. Despite this concern surrounding the use of private contractors, the lack of an universal legal framework and a solid alternative has allowed for PMSCs to often go unaccountable for transgressions committed during their operations abroad. This research, therefore, focuses on the effects of public opinion and social accountability as a regulatory measure in ensuring PMSCs are held accountable. The public has played an important role in holding their governments accountable and they should be considered an important actor in holding private military and security contractors accountable as well.

Private Military and Security Companies

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443893951
Total Pages : 175 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Military and Security Companies by : Erika Calazans

Download or read book Private Military and Security Companies written by Erika Calazans and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2016-05-11 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book’s primary concern is the application of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law in addressing the business conduct of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) during armed conflicts, as well as state responsibility for human rights violations and current attempts at international regulation. The book discusses four interconnected themes. First, it differentiates private contractors from mercenaries, presenting an historical overview of private violence. Second, it situates PMSCs’ employees under the legal status of civilian or combatant in accordance with the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949. It then investigates the existing law on state responsibility and what sort of responsibility companies and their employees can face. Finally, the book explores current developments on regulation within the industry, on national, regional and international levels. These themes are connected by the argument that, in order to find gaps in the existing laws, it is necessary to establish what they are, what law is applicable and what further developments are needed.

Private Military and Security Companies and States

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319549030
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (195 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Military and Security Companies and States by : Christopher Spearin

Download or read book Private Military and Security Companies and States written by Christopher Spearin and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-08-02 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book identifies and explains the functional and ideational boundaries regarding what states and Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) both do and possess regarding land power, sea power, and air power. Whereas the mercenaries, privateers, and chartered companies of years past held similar characteristics to state military forces, the PMSCs of today are dissimilar for two reasons: a conventional forces norm amongst states and a state proclivity towards the offensive. These factors reveal both the limitations of and the possibilities for contemporary security privatization. This volume is ideal for civilian and military practitioners and students wishing to develop a detailed understanding of what the private military and security industry has to offer and why it is structured the way it is.

Private Military and Security Companies as Legitimate Governors

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Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 0429826001
Total Pages : 429 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (298 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Military and Security Companies as Legitimate Governors by : Berenike Prem

Download or read book Private Military and Security Companies as Legitimate Governors written by Berenike Prem and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2019-06-19 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the legitimation of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs), focusing on the controversy between PMSCs and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). While existing studies disproportionately emphasizes the ability for companies and their clients to dominate and shape perceptions of the industry, this book offers an alternative explanation for the oft-cited normalization of PMSCs and the trend to privatize security by analyzing the changing relationship between PMSCs and NGOs. It uses the concept of ‘norm entrepreneurship’ to elucidate the legitimation game between these two dissimilar actors. Starting from the 1990s, the book shows that the relationship between PMSCs and NGOs has undergone a transition by literally moving from ‘the barricades to the boardrooms’. After years of fierce advocacy and PR campaigns against PMSCs, today both actors increasingly collaborate in multi-stakeholder initiatives, elevating the status of PMSCs from a scorned actor to a trusted partner in the regulation of the industry. The work offers a comprehensive explanation of when and why this kind of collective norm entrepreneurship is likely to occur. This book will be of interest to students of PMSCs, critical security studies, global governance, international norms, and International Relations.

Foreign Fighters and Multinational Armies

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000588173
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Foreign Fighters and Multinational Armies by : Steven O’Connor

Download or read book Foreign Fighters and Multinational Armies written by Steven O’Connor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-05-11 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book showcases new historical research on foreign soldiers, including an overview of the early modern period and numerous case studies which cover the last 175 years and stretch over 5 continents. The last two decades have seen the term ‘foreign fighter’ enter our everyday vocabulary. The insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Syrian Civil War and the rise and fall of the Islamic State group have sparked public interest in the phenomenon of people choosing to leave their own country and fight in a foreign conflict. Foreign fighters, their origins, motives, activities and potential danger to their home countries have become subjects of debate, attracting contributions from politicians, military personnel, the media, political scientists, legal scholars but to a much lesser extent from historians. The ten essayss in this volume showcase new historical research on foreign military labour. The aim of the volume is to better understand the experiences and challenges faced by both the foreigners and the host country, particularly its armed forces, and to highlight the significance of these trends to the contemporary debate on foreign fighters. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal European Review of History.

Private Military and Security Companies

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3531903136
Total Pages : 489 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (319 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Military and Security Companies by : Thomas Jäger

Download or read book Private Military and Security Companies written by Thomas Jäger and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-04-23 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Private Sicherheits- und Militärunternehmen erleben seit den 1990er Jahren einen außerordentlichen Boom und sind derzeit eines der spannendsten Phänomene in den internationalen Beziehungen. Die Palette der von ihnen angebotenen Dienstleistungen ist groß. Sie reichen von logistischer Unterstützung über Aufklärung bis hin zu Kampfeinsätzen. Zu ihren Kunden zählen Regierungen, Wirtschaftsunternehmen, internationale Organisationen, NGOs, humanitäre Organisationen sowie Privatpersonen. Gegenwärtig lässt sich an den Auseinandersetzungen im Irak sowohl die Aktualität wie auch die Brisanz ihres Einsatzes illustrieren, gibt es doch Anzeichen dafür, dass Beschäftigte solcher Unternehmen u.a. in die Folterung von Gefangenen verwickelt sind. Die Beiträge des Sammelbandes aus der Feder nationaler wie internationaler Expertinnen und Experten beschreiben und analysieren verschiedene Typen von privaten Sicherheits- und Militärunternehmens, ihre Dienstleistungen und die Umstände, die ihren Boom befördert haben. Sie diskutieren die Vor- wie auch die Nachteile ihres Einsatzes und beschreiben Instrumente, die die Tätigkeit dieser Unternehmen stärker reglementieren und kontrollieren könnten.

Private Security Contractors and New Wars

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135153272
Total Pages : 458 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (351 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Security Contractors and New Wars by : Kateri Carmola

Download or read book Private Security Contractors and New Wars written by Kateri Carmola and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-02-05 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the ambiguities of the growing use of private security contractors and provides guidance as to how our expectations about regulating this expanding ‘service’ industry will have to be adjusted. In the warzones of Iraq and Afghanistan many of those who carry weapons are not legally combatants, nor are they protected civilians. They are contracted by governments, businesses, and NGOs to provide armed security. Often mistaken as members of armed forces, they are instead part of a new protean proxy force that works alongside the military in a multitude of shifting roles, and overseen by a matrix of contracts and regulations. This book analyzes the growing industry of these private military and security companies (PMSCs) used in warzones and other high risk areas. PMSCs are the result of a unique combination of circumstances, including a change in the idea of soldiering, insurance industry analyses that require security contractors, and a need for governments to distance themselves from potentially criminal conduct. The book argues that PMSCs are a unique type of organization, combining attributes from worlds of the military, business, and humanitarian organizations. This makes them particularly resistant to oversight. The legal status of these companies and those they employ is also hard to ascertain, which weakens the multiple regulatory tools available. PMSCs also fall between the cracks in ethical debates about their use, seeming to be both justifiable and objectionable. This transformation in military operations is a seemingly irreversible product of more general changes in the relationship between the individual citizen and the state. This book will be of much interest to students of private security companies, war and conflict studies, security studies and IR in general. Kateri Carmola is the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College in Vermont. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Private Military/Security Companies

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Publisher : LAP Lambert Academic Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9783659363924
Total Pages : 88 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (639 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Military/Security Companies by : Burak Gunes

Download or read book Private Military/Security Companies written by Burak Gunes and published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. This book was released on 2013 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasingly, and especially since the end of the Cold War, Private Military/Security Companies have been utilised by states in order to fulfil duties relating to warfare. This book aims to examine the legal basis of PMSCs under international law, and analyse the law of state responsibility within the frame of PMSCs. Yet how can international and domestic law best regulate the Private Military industry? In particular, international law has found it difficult to establish a 'hard law', with a binding nature on PMSC and universal applicability. In such regard, this study seeks to indicate the shortcomings of current international law; but also ensure that the topic stays alive for further research by asking questions relating to contemporary issues.

Routledge Handbook of Private Security Studies

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317914325
Total Pages : 425 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (179 download)

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Book Synopsis Routledge Handbook of Private Security Studies by : Rita Abrahamsen

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Private Security Studies written by Rita Abrahamsen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-08 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of current research on private security and military companies, comprising essays by leading scholars from around the world. The increasing privatization of security across the globe has been the subject of much debate and controversy, inciting fears of private warfare and even the collapse of the state. This volume provides the first comprehensive overview of the range of issues raised by contemporary security privatization, offering both a survey of the numerous roles performed by private actors and an analysis of their implications and effects. Ranging from the mundane to the spectacular, from secretive intelligence gathering and neighbourhood surveillance to piracy control and warfare, this Handbook shows how private actors are involved in both domestic and international security provision and governance. It places this involvement in historical perspective, and demonstrates how the impact of security privatization goes well beyond the security field to influence diverse social, economic and political relationships and institutions. Finally, this volume analyses the evolving regulation of the global private security sector. Seeking to overcome the disciplinary boundaries that have plagued the study of private security, the Handbook promotes an interdisciplinary approach and contains contributions from a range of disciplines, including international relations, politics, criminology, law, sociology, geography and anthropology. This book will be of much interest to students of private security companies, global governance, military studies, security studies and IR in general.

Private Security and Identity Politics

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317268555
Total Pages : 148 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (172 download)

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Book Synopsis Private Security and Identity Politics by : Jutta Joachim

Download or read book Private Security and Identity Politics written by Jutta Joachim and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-07-18 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the self-representation and identity politics of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). PMSCs have become increasingly important over the past few decades. While their boom is frequently explained in functional terms, such as their cost-efficiency and effectiveness, this book offers an alternative explanation based on an analysis of the online self-presentations of forty-two US- and UK-based companies. PMSCs are shaping how they are perceived and establishing themselves as acceptable and legitimate security actors by eclectically appropriating identities more commonly associated with the military, businesses and humanitarian actors. Depending on their audience and clients’ needs, they can be professional hero warriors, or promise turn-key security solutions based on their exceptional expertise, or, in a similar way to humanitarians, reassure those in need of relief and try to make the world a better place. Rather than being merely public relations, the self-referential assertions of PMSCs are political. Not only do they contribute to a normalization of private security and reinforce an already ongoing blurring of lines between the public and private sectors, they also change what we deem to be ‘security’ and a ‘security actor’. This book will be of much interest to students of private military companies, critical security studies, military studies, security studies and IR.

Outsorcing of Security to private Military Contractors: State Responsibilities

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Author :
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3656377529
Total Pages : 79 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (563 download)

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Book Synopsis Outsorcing of Security to private Military Contractors: State Responsibilities by : Nicholas Sunday

Download or read book Outsorcing of Security to private Military Contractors: State Responsibilities written by Nicholas Sunday and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2013-02-25 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2012 in the subject Law - Miscellaneous, grade: A, , course: LLM INTERNATIONAL LAW, language: English, abstract: The monopoly of the use of force granted to modern States by its citizens is a relatively new phenomenon. Private armies have been operating in European States till the XIX century. The use of mercenaries has been historically a constant phenomenon till almost the end of the XX century, when their activities were criminalized by the international community. Parallel to that phenomenon during the European colonial expansion over all continents, governments had authorized two other forms of similar violence by non-state actors: the corsairs and the colonial merchant companies.