Private Security
Dawn of a new era for private military corporations
By Atul Bharadwaj
Posted on April 25, 2006 -www. atlanticaffairs.org
The private provision of security is one of the most crucial
developments in the field of war and peace in the 1990s and after.
According to a report in The Guardian of London, “private military
corporations (PMCs) have penetrated western warfare so deeply that
they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq
after the Pentagon”. Peter Singer, the author of Corporate Warriors,
recognizes this point when he says that the current scale of
operations of private military companies can only be compared to the
involvement of private warriors about 250 years ago.
The moot point is, why is there a splintering of national security, which
for many years was considered to be the sole preserve of the state?
There are two reasons for this development. Firstly, globalization has
led to an unprecedented increase in cross-border business activity.
The existing security arrangements have become inadequate to
ensure the security of trade in far-flung regions of the world.
The multinational companies (MNCs) can neither fully depend
upon the governments in distant lands nor on their home state to give
them the much-needed protection against attacks on their
businesses by natives opposed to the idea of globalization. With
massive cash investments worldwide, the international business has
gradually moved towards appropriating the means of conducting
violence, something that so far only the state could do.
Secondly, in the post Cold War world there has been an increasing
consensus towards greater private participation and reduced role of
the state in conducting human affairs on earth. It is this privatization
movement sweeping the globe which has made its impact on the
defence sector. In an era where the power and resources vested with
the state are continuously on the decline, it is natural for the
corporations to fill the security void created by the “retreat of the state”.
The PMCs are now engaged in conducting both wars as well building
peace. Their clients include not only the MNCs but also states and
international bodies like the United Nations. The services provided by
the PMCs range from laundry services for troops to maintaining
missiles and aircraft.
These companies also guard the heads of state, for example
President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, and the prisoners of war in
Iraq. The PMCs are also known to participate in combat operations
and intelligence gathering.
Despite their increasing involvement in the conduct of military
operations, PMCs are yet to acquire the political legitimacy to conduct
war on their own behalf. One reason for this is that state is yet to be
relegated to the dustbin of history. Therefore, most of the PMCs act
primarily as contractors for state's militaries.
The PMCs claim that they are not the same as mercenaries of the
yore. They are professionally managed corporations, which go about
conducting their business as per the corporate norms. However,
efforts to acquire legitimacy remain the primary concern of the PMCs. It
is important for men and women, who fight on ground, to be given due
recognition as soldiers.
However, soldiers working for a PMC would detest being called
soldiers of fortune or mercenaries. Just as a medicine man,
irrespective of whether he works for a private or public hospital, is
called a doctor, similarly the military professional working for PMCs
would like to be equated with soldiers who fight for the state militaries.
The privatization movement in security sector will only grow in the
coming years. Crucial intelligence and related military activities would
be outsourced to private firms. The emerging needs mean that new
international norms and regulatory mechanism will be worked out to
guide the conduct of PMCs and make them socially responsible and
democratically accountable.
By Atul Bharadwaj
Posted on April 25, 2006 -www. atlanticaffairs.org
The private provision of security is one of the most crucial
developments in the field of war and peace in the 1990s and after.
According to a report in The Guardian of London, “private military
corporations (PMCs) have penetrated western warfare so deeply that
they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq
after the Pentagon”. Peter Singer, the author of Corporate Warriors,
recognizes this point when he says that the current scale of
operations of private military companies can only be compared to the
involvement of private warriors about 250 years ago.
The moot point is, why is there a splintering of national security, which
for many years was considered to be the sole preserve of the state?
There are two reasons for this development. Firstly, globalization has
led to an unprecedented increase in cross-border business activity.
The existing security arrangements have become inadequate to
ensure the security of trade in far-flung regions of the world.
The multinational companies (MNCs) can neither fully depend
upon the governments in distant lands nor on their home state to give
them the much-needed protection against attacks on their
businesses by natives opposed to the idea of globalization. With
massive cash investments worldwide, the international business has
gradually moved towards appropriating the means of conducting
violence, something that so far only the state could do.
Secondly, in the post Cold War world there has been an increasing
consensus towards greater private participation and reduced role of
the state in conducting human affairs on earth. It is this privatization
movement sweeping the globe which has made its impact on the
defence sector. In an era where the power and resources vested with
the state are continuously on the decline, it is natural for the
corporations to fill the security void created by the “retreat of the state”.
The PMCs are now engaged in conducting both wars as well building
peace. Their clients include not only the MNCs but also states and
international bodies like the United Nations. The services provided by
the PMCs range from laundry services for troops to maintaining
missiles and aircraft.
These companies also guard the heads of state, for example
President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, and the prisoners of war in
Iraq. The PMCs are also known to participate in combat operations
and intelligence gathering.
Despite their increasing involvement in the conduct of military
operations, PMCs are yet to acquire the political legitimacy to conduct
war on their own behalf. One reason for this is that state is yet to be
relegated to the dustbin of history. Therefore, most of the PMCs act
primarily as contractors for state's militaries.
The PMCs claim that they are not the same as mercenaries of the
yore. They are professionally managed corporations, which go about
conducting their business as per the corporate norms. However,
efforts to acquire legitimacy remain the primary concern of the PMCs. It
is important for men and women, who fight on ground, to be given due
recognition as soldiers.
However, soldiers working for a PMC would detest being called
soldiers of fortune or mercenaries. Just as a medicine man,
irrespective of whether he works for a private or public hospital, is
called a doctor, similarly the military professional working for PMCs
would like to be equated with soldiers who fight for the state militaries.
The privatization movement in security sector will only grow in the
coming years. Crucial intelligence and related military activities would
be outsourced to private firms. The emerging needs mean that new
international norms and regulatory mechanism will be worked out to
guide the conduct of PMCs and make them socially responsible and
democratically accountable.
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