Private Military and Security Companies

Ethics, Policies and Civil-Military Relations

Andrew Alexandra, Deane-Peter Baker, Marina Caparini

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781134081868
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: the ethics and governance of private military and security companies
• PART I Ethics
• 1 What are mercenaries?
• 2 Of 'mercenaries' and prostitutes: can private warriors be ethical?
• 3 Regulating anarchy: the ethics of PMCs in global civil society
• 4 Benevolence, honourable soldiers and private military companies: reformulating Just War theory
• 5 Private security companies and corporate social responsibility
• PART II Policies and law
• 6 Mars meets Mammon
• 7 Private military companies: markets, ethics and economics
• 8 Ruthless humanitarianism: why marginalizing private peacekeeping kills people
• 9 Private security companies and intelligence provision
• 10 Private actors and the governance of security in West Africa
• 11 Private military/security companies: the status of their staff and their obligations under international humanitarian law and the responsibilities of states in relation to their operations
• 12 Regulating private military and security companies: the US approach
• PART III Civil–military relations
• 13 Privatization of security, international interventions and the democratic control of armed forces
• 14 Privatized peace? Assessing the interplay between states, humanitarians and private
• 15 The military and the community: comparing national military forces and private military companies
• 16 Interface ethics: military forces and private military companies
• 17 The new model soldier and civil–military relations
• Select bibliography
• Index