Private military companies : peace or profit? : A comparative analysis of private military involvement in Africa and the Middle East

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Private Military Company (PMC) is a key phenomenon of the post-Cold War era, in which theerosion of state authority, the trend towards privatisation, the downsizing of the world's armedforces, and the insecurities created by a world economy not only in crisis, but also characterized bythe commodity boom, all come together. The privatisation of security and even military functionshas now become part of market-driven economics through outsourcing those functions to civiliansas well as through contracting those functions to foreign companies. As a result, private militarycompanies are mushrooming in weak states that are rich in natural resources, predominantly inAfrica and the Middle East.This global growth of private military companies, however, creates a dilemma for those who wishto ban them. Under international law, such as those prescribed by the United Nations and theAfrican Union, the use of mercenaries is expressly prohibited, but without visible effect. Nationallegislation focused on the regulation of these companies does exist within the countries from whichmost private military companies stem, namely South Africa, Great Britain and the United States,however, most legal restrictions are largely confined to breaking arms-export laws, whilst the issueof extra-territoriality .continues to plague policy-makers. The issue centres itself upon properregulation. In truth, private military companies today, which are only accountable to theirshareholders as opposed to electorates, are convenient mechanisms utilised to serve the objectivesof the post-9/11 Bush/Blair alliance and remain illegal internationally as they have no rights orobligations and find themselves outside the Geneva Conventions and the International CriminalCourt.In a critical examination of the general privatisation of public security, it is useful to focusparticularly on cases in Africa (Sierra Leone) and the Middle East (Iraq) as they best illustrate thepost-Cold War debate regarding the strategic impact of private military companies in intrastateconflicts. The primary focus of this study is therefore a comparative analysis of private militaryinvolvement in Africa and the Middle East in order to determine whether these new warringentities, which include terrorists, mercenaries, guerrillas, warlords, non-state militias and, mostimportantly, private military companies, may or may not represent a serious threat to internationalsecurity, as one particular issue centres upon whether they represent more efficient and cheapermodels for peacemaking. This is required in order to understand the current contextual trends thatseemingly allow private military involvement in Iraq, as legitimate role players of the Coalition ofthe Willing, to be more palatable than that of their counterparts in Africa, who since 1992, claimonly to act once contracted legally by an elected government in their fight against rebel forces andinsurgents. As the issue is one of valuable resources, their services can be afforded.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University