Corporate Warriors

by Singer, P. W.

• ISBN13: 9780801474361
• ISBN10: 0801474361
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-03
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr

Summary

Some have claimed that ¿War is too important to be left to the generals, but P. W. Singer asks What about the business executives? Breaking out of the guns-for-hire mold of traditional mercenaries, corporations now sell skills and services that until recently only state militaries possessed. Their products range from trained commando teams to strategic advice from generals. This new Privatized Military Industry encompasses hundreds of companies, thousands of employees, and billions of dollars in revenue. Whether as proxies or suppliers, such firms have participated in wars in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and Latin America. More recently, they have become a key element in U.S. military operations. Private corporations working for profit now sway the course of national and international conflict, but the consequences have been little explored. In this book, Singer provides the first account of the military services industry and its broader implications. Corporate Warriors includes a description of how the business works, as well as portraits of each of the basic types of companies: military providers that offer troops for tactical operations; military consultants that supply expert advice and training; and military support companies that sell logistics, intelligence, and engineering. The privatization of warfare allows startling new capabilities and efficiencies in the ways that war is carried out. At the same time, however, Singer finds that the entrance of the profit motive onto the battlefield raises a series of troubling questions for democracy, for ethics, for management, for human rights, and for national security.

Author Biography

P. W. Singer is Senior Fellow and Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
The Rise
An Era of Corporate Warriors?	p. 3
Privatized Military History	p. 19
The Privatized Military Industry Distinguished	p. 40
Why Security Has Been Privatized	p. 49
Organization and Operation
The Global Industry of Military Services	p. 73
The Privatized Military Industry Classified	p. 88
The Military Provider Firm: Executive Outcomes	p. 101
The Military Consultant Firm: MPRI	p. 119
The Military Support Firm: Brown & Root	p. 136
Implications
Contractual Dilemmas	p. 151
Market Dynamism and Global Disruptions	p. 169
Private Firms and the Civil-Military Balance	p. 191
Public Ends, Private Military Means?	p. 206
Morality and the Privatized Military Firm	p. 216
Conclusions	p. 230
Postscript
The Lessons of Iraq	p. 243
PMFs on the Web	p. 261
PMF Contract	p. 263
Notes	p. 273
Bibliography	p. 321
Index	p. 345
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.