Full Description
This work examines the ability of existing and evolving PMC regulation to adequately control private force, and it challenges the capacity of international law to deliver accountability in the event of private military company (PMC) misconduct. From medieval to early modern history, private soldiers dominated the military realm and were fundamental to the waging of wars until the rise of a national citizen army. Today, PMCs are again a significant force, performing various security, logistics, and strategy functions across the world. Unlike mercenaries or any other form of irregular force, PMCs acquired a corporate legal personality, a legitimising status that alters the governance model of today. Drawing on historical examples of different forms of governance, the relationship between neoliberal states and private military companies is conceptualised here as a form of a 'shared governance'. It reflects states' reliance on PMCs relinquishing a degree of their power and transferring certain functions to the private sector. As non-state actors grow in authority, wielding power, and making claims to legitimacy through self-regulation, other sources of law also become imaginable and relevant to enact regulation and invoke responsibility.
Contents
Table of ContentsIntroduction IntroductionConceptual frameworkPower and LegitimacyIdentifying forms of governanceChapter OutlineChapter 1: Private Military Companies, a contemporary problem?Mercenaries, Contractors, CiviliansDefinition of Private Military CompaniesChallenges of the DefinitionsPMC ClassificationRegulation and accountability: who should be regulated and to what end?RegulationThe Purpose of RegulationAccountabilityConclusionChapter 2: Private forces in different forms of governance: historical typologiesFeudalism and AbsolutismProfessional ArmiesItalian City-Republics and Civilian MilitiaCivilian Militia as a Norm Against MercenariesThe French Revolution and the Nation-StateLa Levée en MasseThe British Empire and the EICThe EIC and its Accession to PowerThe Army of the EICWas the Army of the EIC Private or Public?Normative Approaches to MercenariesConclusionChapter 3: Mercenaries of the Twentieth Century and State ResponsibilityThe Rise of International Legal NormsNon-Intervention as an International Legal NormDecolonisation and Proxy WarfareDecline of Non-InterventionismMercenary Forces in the Congo and AngolaInternational Legal Response to the Use of Irregular ForcesAnti-Mercenary NormsThe Nicaragua CaseConclusionChapter 4: New Wars, Neoliberalism, and the Rise of PMCsNew Wars and the Rise of PMCsNeoliberalismAccountability and State ControlGovernance and GovernmentalityConclusionChapter 5: Legal mechanisms and ch
