Risk and Private Military Work

Abstract

To date geography has paid scant attention to private military contracting. Other disciplines have studied the topic, but their work is state-centric. In this paper I examine private military contracting through a geoeconomic lens and make four arguments. First, the heightened security risks of the contemporary era cannot be explained solely as a result of states' decision to cede their monopolies over the means of violence. We must also examine the private military firms that have created new monopolies and the strategies they use to manage and distribute risk. Second, the industry has increased risk in the world system by offloading security risks onto their employees. This "responsibility over rights" management model provides inadequate human rights training and battlefield adjudication procedures for contractors and civilians alike. Third, the geography of private military work does not always conform to the global division of labor between north and south. Instead, private military work creates a class of work that cuts across social and geographic divides. Finally, while activists should encourage states to regulate the industry, they should also push it to reform employment practices since private military firms are increasingly global in scope.

Crime, insecurity and corruption: Considering the growth of urban private security

“…What differentiates this work from research on PSCs, however, relates primarily to the contexts in which they operate (combat/conflict zones v. everyday urban settings), and the types of 'security' they provide (military intervention and international peacekeeping v. personal protection and the maintenance of public order). While academic debates over Private Military Companies have been prolific (e.g., Avant, 2005;Gallaher, 2012;Gregory, 2010), the growing presence of PSCs in cities around the world remains largely underresearched (Paasche et al, 2014). Today, in both developed and less developed countries, PSCs are becoming crucial components of urban security apparatuses (Abrahamsen and Williams, 2011;Newburn, 2001;Ungar, 2007).…”

“…While academic debates over Private Military Companies have been prolific (e.g. Avant, 2005;Gallaher, 2012;Gregory, 2010), the growing presence of PSCs in cities around the world remains largely under-researched (Paasche et al, 2014). Today, in both developed and less developed countries, PSCs are becoming crucial components of urban security apparatuses (Abrahamsen and Williams, 2011;Newburn, 2001;Ungar, 2007).…”

Development Capital: USAID and the Rise of Development Contractors

“…Although U.S. military operations have long used contractors, recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq entailed contracting on an unprecedented scale. Outsourcing by the U.S. military has become widespread and routine (Gallaher 2012). The sheer value of Defense Department contracts and their vast number might overshadow the contracting activities of the State Department or USAID, but the turn to outsourcing on the part of the Department of State and USAID was even more pronounced.…”

“…Occasionally, researchers investigating particular development schemes note the role of contractors (e.g., Ramírez 2010). Fluri (2009Fluri ( , 2011aFluri ( , 2011b studied the geopolitical significance of contractor personnel engaged in development work in Afghanistan and Gallaher (2012) investigated the geo-economics of contemporary private military contracting. In critical development studies, contractors are sometimes mentioned but do not appear as direct objects of scrutiny (e.g., Roy 2010).…”

Military landscapes

“…This is possibly the most significant development in the organization and deployment of military power by advanced capitalist economies (particularly the USA and the UK) in the past 20 years. Although the emergence of private military and security companies is generating a substantial quantity of critical reflection about the wider geographical, political and economic implications of this shift in the control of militarized power from the state to non-state actors under neoliberal governance regimes (see, for example, Gallaher, 2012;Higate, 2013;Krahman, 2013), there has yet to be any substantial reflection as to what these changes bring to the landscapes in which they are performed and which they in turn constitute. Prosaic, unremarkable but highly necessary functions such as logistics and supply, and the servicing of the bodies of military personnel, are increasingly being outsourced and subcontracted, changes accommodated within military spaces hitherto unadapted to the demands of the civilian economy (see, for example, Chandrasekaran, 2006).…”