The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security

by Deborah D. Avant

• ISBN13: 9780521615358
• ISBN10: 0521615356
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-25
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The legitimate use of force is generally presumed to be the realm of the state. However, the flourishing role of the private sector in security over the last twenty years has brought this into question. In this book Deborah Avant examines the privatization of security and its impact on the control of force. She describes the growth of private security companies, explains how the industry works, and describes its range of customers - including states, non-government organisations and commercial transnational corporations. She charts the inevitable trade-offs that the market for force imposes on the states, firms and people wishing to control it, suggests a new way to think about the control of force, and offers a model of institutional analysis that draws on both economic and sociological reasoning. The book contains case studies drawn from the US and Europe as well as Africa and the Middle East.

Author Biography

Deborah D. Avant is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Global and International Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

Table of Contents

List of figure and tables	ix
List of acronyms	x
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	1	(39)
Private security and the control of force: the question	3	(2)
Private security and the control of force: the answer	5	(2)
A transnational market for military and security services	7	(15)
Mercenaries, privatization, and other slippery terms	22	(4)
The current market compared	26	(4)
Why the current market?	30	(8)
Plan of the book	38	(2)
Private security and the control of force	40	(41)
Clarifying the control of force	40	(5)
How should privatization affect the control of force?	45	(12)
State contracts for private force	57	(8)
State regulation of private security	65	(5)
Non-state financing and the control of force	70	(7)
Methods and claims	77	(4)
State capacity and contracting for security	81	(62)
Sierra Leone's contracts for military services	82	(16)
Croatia's contracts for military services	98	(15)
US contracts for military services	113	(25)
Comparisons	138	(5)
Dilemmas in state regulation of private security exports	143	(35)
The United States	146	(11)
South Africa	157	(10)
The United Kingdom	167	(8)
Transnational markets and political trade-offs	175	(3)
Private financing for security and the control of force	178	(41)
Transnational corporate financing and the control of force	180	(12)
Humanitarian relief in war zones	192	(12)
Conserving nature in the state of nature	204	(11)
Comparisons	215	(4)
Market mechanisms and the diffusion of control over force	219	(34)
Market mechanisms	219	(9)
Diffusion of control	228	(12)
Institutional innovations	240	(5)
Competing mechanisms, conflict, and change in history	245	(6)
Discussion	251	(2)
Conclusion	253	(12)
Institutional mechanisms and political processes	254	(3)
Globalization, the state, and the sovereign system	257	(8)
Bibliography	265	(37)
Index	302