Details
- Contributors include a range of key providers, consumers, regulators, and opinion-makers, including writers who have worked closely with the industry and bring key insights into both the theory and the practice of PMCs
- Timely examination of the recent proliferation of PMCs, and their current prominence following scandals in Iraq
- Relevant for governments as they begin to formulate their policy responses to PMCs
- Specific focus on regulation of this new industry
Frequently characterized as either mercenaries in modern guise or the market's response to a security vaccuum, private military companies are commercial firms offering military services ranging from combat and military training and advice to logistical support, and which play an increasingly important role in armed conflicts, UN peace operations, and providing security in unstable states.
Executive Outcomes turned around an orphaned conflict in Sierra Leone in the mid-1990s; Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI) was instrumental in shifting the balance of power in the Balkans, enabling the Croatian military to defeat Serb forces and clear the way for the Dayton negotiations; in Iraq, estimates of the number of private contractors on the ground are in the tens of thousands. As they assume more responsibilities in conflict and post-conflict settings, their growing significance raises fundamental questions about their nature, their role in different regions and contexts, and their regulation.
This volume examines these issues with a focus on governance, in particular the interaction between regulation and market forces. It analyzes the current legal framework and the needs and possibilities for regulation in the years ahead. The book as a whole is organized around four sets of questions, which are reflected in the four parts of the book. First, why and how is regulation of PMCs now a challenging issue? Secondly, how have problems leading to a call for regulation manifested in different regions and contexts? Third, what regulatory norms and institutions currently exist and how effective are they? And, fourth, what role has the market to play in regulation?
Readership: Academics, scholars, and advanced students of public international law, armed conflict and the laws of war, peace studies, UN law, international relations, and politics
James Jonah: Foreword
Simon Chesterman and Chia Lehnardt: Introduction
I Concerns
1: Sarah Percy: Morality and regulation
2: Kevin O'Brian: What should and what should not be regulated?
3: Anna Leander: Regulating the role of private military companies in shaping security and politics
II Challenges
4: Angela McIntyre and Taya Weiss: Weak governments in search of strength: Africa's experience of mercenaries and private military companies
5: David Isenberg: A government in search of cover: Private military companies in Iraq
6: Elke Krahmann: Transitional states in search of support: Private miliary companies and security sector reform
III Norms
7: Louise Doswald-Beck: Private military companies under international humanitarian law
8: Chia Lehnardt: Private military companies and state responsibility
9: Marina Caparini: Domestic regulation: licensing regimes for the export of military goods and services
IV Markets
10: Deborah Avant: The emerging market for private military services and the problems of regulation
11: James Cockayne: Make or buy? Principal-agent theory and the regulation of private military companies
12: Laura A Dickinson: Contract as a tool for regulating private military companies
13: Andrew Bearpark and Sabrina Schulz: The future of the market
14: Simon Chesterman and Chia Lehnardt: Conclusion: From mercenaries to market
Bibliography
Index
Edited by Simon Chesterman, Global Professor and Director of the New York University School of Law Singapore Programme, and an Associate Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore, and Chia Lehnardt, Research Fellow at Humboldt University, Berlin
Contributors:
Deborah Avant, University of California, Irvine
Andrew Bearpark, British Association of Private Security Companies
Marina Caparini, The International Center for Transitional Justice
Simon Chesterman, New York University School of Law Singapore Programme
James Cockayne, International Peace Institute
Laura Dickinson, University of Connecticut School of Law
Louise Doswald-Beck, Geneva Academy of International humanitarian law and human rights
David Isenberg,
James Jonah
Elke Krahmann
Anna Leander
Chia Lehnardt, Humbolt University in Berlin
Angela McIntyre
Kevin O'Brian
Sarah Percy
Sabrina Schulz
Taya Weiss
"This book could not be better timed, given the subject, regulation of PMCs, and it makes a significant contribution to the academic literature on PMCs." - Journal of Modern African Studies
"The 15 chapters of the book present the complexity of the underlying issues well and offer a good overview into the normative contradictions...the expressly pragmatic approcah chosen by the editors is to be commended for its realism and search for relevance. Furthermore, the book's careful editing, its compact but helpful references, and the thorough index are laudable" - Ebrahim Afsah, Max Planck Institute for International Law, Heidelberg
"For anyone interested in the role of Private Military Companied (PMCs) and the problems they raise in today's international environment, this book must find a place on their library shelf." - The International Spectator
"This is an impressive work, which advances both the research and policy agendas in its field...Drawing together contributions from across a range of disciplines and backgrounds, this volume encompasses a wide spectrum of opinions towards PMCs. Its thoughtful structure and insightful contributions also betray the significant foundation work upon which it is premised." - British Journal of Criminology
"...remains a pivotal volume in the field of study dealing with privatization of security and military affairs" - ZaoRV Vol 1 2011
