The Impact of Mercenaries and Private Military and Security Companies on Civil War Severity between 1946 and 2002

Petersohn, Ulrich

doi:10.1080/03050629.2014.880699

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Privatization as part of a neo-liberal agenda that prizes costefficacy dictated a different line of research. Security scholars and political scientists try to answer whether using PMSCs reduce costs (Halpin 2011) and try assess the quality of their performance (Dunigan 2011;Lovewine 2011;Petersohn 2013;Petersohn 2014).…”

Section: The Rise Of Pmscs In the Contemporary And Security Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

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The Corporate War Dead Swed et al. 2018 Armed Forces & Society pdf

Swed¹,

Kwon²,

Crosbie³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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<p>From an obscure sector synonymous with mercenaryism, the private military and security industry has grown to become a significant complementing instrument in military operations. This rise has brought with it considerable attention. Researchers have examined the role of private military and security companies in international relations as well as the history of these companies, and, above all, the legal implications of their use in place of military organizations. As research progresses, a significant gap has become clear. Only a handful of studies have addressed the complex of issues associated with contractors’ demographics and lived experience. This paper sheds some light over this lacuna, examining contractors’ demographics using descriptive statistics from an original dataset of American and British contractors who died in Iraq between the years 2003-2016. The paper augments our understanding of an important population of post-Fordist contracted workforce, those peripheral workers supplementing military activity in high-risk occupations with uncertain long-term outcomes. <b></b></p>

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Section: The Rise Of Pmscs In the Contemporary And Security Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are of course exceptions, including works as diverse as Christensen (2016), Dunigan (2013),Kelty and Bierman (2013),Petersohn (2014) and several others.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Corporate War Dead Swed et al. 2018 Armed Forces & Society pdf

Swed¹,

Kwon²,

Crosbie³

et al. 2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…After the Cold War ended, major powers were slow to interfere in regional conflict; humanitarian concerns (such as the genocide in Rwanda) have only rarely been sufficient to prompt deployment. There was a notable security gap in the former Third World when the stability of superpower support was withdrawn (Petersohn , 19). This is not simply due to political isolationism.…”

Section: Private Security Companies As Mirrors For Governmental Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the most standard definitions of mercenaries is “Mercenaries are fighters who participate in hostilities for pecuniary reward. Moreover, they are not a national of a party to the conflict, and are not integrated into the regular armed forces” (Chojnacki, Metternich, and Münster , 5; Petersohn , 2). Therefore, mercenaries are individuals who take on contracts that have a reasonable expectation of entering into combat, and who will halt services if direct compensation is removed.…”

Section: Private Security Companies As Mirrors For Governmental Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Doppelgangers of the State: Private Security and Transferable Legitimacy

Phelps

2014

Politics & Policy

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The U.S. national military hires private security companies (PSCs) to operate in zones of conflict. This article introduces the concept of a legitimacy transfer mechanism to answer the question of how nonnational providers of military support can be considered legitimate actors in areas of conflict. PSCs borrow legitimacy from the state that contracts the firm. Private firms do not operate alone; they are hired and, at least marginally, directed by a state. By using the established legitimacy of industrialized states these firms are able to find legitimacy in Western security culture. To maintain future business, private security is forced to obey the security culture of the hiring state. More so, the firm will mimic the goals and policy of the hiring state in an attempt to build its own, independent, sense of legitimacy.

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