PRIVATE MILITARY AND SECURITY COMPANIES: ETHICS, POLICIES AND CIVIL MILITARY RELATIONS/EDITED BY ANDREW ALEXANDRA, DEANE-PETER BAKER AND MARINA CAPARINI

Abstract

This publication contributes to a growing body of literature on a phenomenon, the
privatization of the means of coercion, that manifests on the international strategic
landscape. Whether a phenomenon one agrees with, or not, private military and
security companies form an rising and real feature within the daily life of
individuals, communities and states of the international system. International,
regional and national security, as well as the security of the individual is
increasingly entwined in services provided by private military and security
contractors. The editors accordingly acknowledge that “… [the] astonishing growth
of private and security companies (PMSCs) is clearly one of the most noteworthy
developments in national and international security arrangements …”.
The content of the publication covers three fields of enquiry: ethics, policies and
law, and civil-military relations and stems from a research programme sponsored by
South African, Australian and Swiss institutions. At the heart of the publication
resides the inherent conflict and controversy between private contractors and the
challenge they bring to traditional views regarding the regulation and operation of
the control over force and its application. Inherently the publication attempts to
contribute to the debate on how to regulate or control a new way of employing and
controlling instruments of violence in the international system.