Politics since the millennium:

A postgraduate conference exploring politics

since 2000 and how it is discussed
University of Nottingham 4th April, 2011

Shaping U.S. foreign policy strategies

in the new millennium -
Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC)
as an integral part of U.S. foreign policy

Kathrin Herbst
 Bio

• Brunel University, School of Social Sciences/Brunel Centre for

Intelligence and Security Studies (BCISS)
• “U.S. foreign policy towards Africa: the U.S. African Command
(AFRICOM) and Private Military and Security Companies
(PMSC)”
 U.S. foreign policy in Africa under Clinton, Bush and Obama
and the use of PMSC (intentions and strategies)
 Management of interagency-led AFRICOM
 What are we talking about?

• Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC) play growing

roles in support of state defence and multilateral
reconstruction strategies
• PMSC have become important non-governmental commercial
security actors in the new millennium
• Ongoing global instability since 9/11 fosters extraordinary
demand for security providers
• Without contractor support, some missions of U.S. Army would
be at risk (U.S. General Accountability Office – GAO)
• PMSC have increasing influence in formation of security
arrangements on different levels of international system
 What are we talking about?

• Use of private contractors in U.S. military occupations is not a

new phenomena
 Expansive use of PMSC as happened in Iraq is
unprecedented in modern warfare
 Occupation of Iraq saw PMSC carry out more mission-
critical operations than in any previous conflict

Operation Desert Storm Operation Iraqi Freedom

(1991) (2003)
U.S. soldiers vs. contractors U.S. soldiers vs. Contractors
100 : 1 10 : 1

• Universally valid definition is still non-existent

 What are we talking about?

PMC
private military
Direct military
functions – own
combat troops with
command
PSC
SSC private security
service support A-PC
Site control, arms production
Management of personal &
Production,
facilities and transport security,
research &
prisons, demining risk
development and
analysis
export of weapons
 The Beginnings of the Discourse

• PMSC became visible social reality after end of Cold War

 Scholars started discourse in 1990s
 First works:
 What are they?
 Can typology be created to reduce complexity?
 Use of term „mercenary“
 Shows scepticism to new security player
 Suggests that growth of industry poses risk to states‘
way of organising security
 Clearly defined by international law
 Not helpful to define and understand PMSC
 The Beginnings of the Discourse

• As consequence of „recent“ arrival of PMSC, few books exist on

the subject
• Many of the books that do exist far from academic, often
written by former military personnel or by individuals with an
overt agenda
• Good articles published by law schools and other academic
institutions
 Of advocates, opponents and pragmatics

Advocates
“peace and security industry“
Doug Brooks
International Stability Operations Association (ISOA)
formerly International Peace Operations Association (IPOA)
 potential of industry (skills, capacity, speed, surge capability)
 PMSC important and legitimate partner if:
 Better coordination of community of states, international
organisations and PMSC, and
 Binding rules are implemented
 If not the private sector, who?
 Of advocates, opponents and pragmatics

Opponents
“new mercenaries“ “mercenary firms”
Jeremy Scahill (2008)
Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful
Mercenary Army

 existence of PMSC weakens governments’ monopoly of force

 Absence of democratic legitimation mechanisms
 Existence of unlegislated areas
 Lack of international law
 Transparency issues
 Of advocates, opponents and pragmatics

• Opponents and advocates both agree that PMSC are here to

stay
• Pragmatic approach arises with most of the research focusing
on finding a typology and definition for PMSC
 How far do the activities of PMSC extend into
responsibilities of states in regards to security
management?
 Can there be mechanisms created to:
 Increase transparency,
 Increase control, and
 Establish responsibilities?
 Of advocates, opponents and pragmatics

• 3 to 4 different categories with criterion being “direct use of

force”
 The closer to combat the more likely to be mercenary
 Underlying assumption: difference on whether the
government outsources
 Surveillance of public spaces,
 Management of prisons, or
 Support of combat missions

“Unproblematic” security Offensive military actions

companies (site control, To be legitimised by
logistics) international institutions
To be left to self regulation such as UN or state alliances
 Peter Singer (2003)
Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatised Military Industry

• First description of the market

 Events that caused rise of PMSC
 Variety of tasks and organisational structure
 Implications of the use of the industry (effects of market
forces, morality of use)
 3 major types of contractors (tip of the spear)
Military Provider Firms
Implementation/Command
Private Security Providers

Military Consulting Firms Advisory and training

Military Support Firms Non-lethal assistance

 Deborah D. Avant (2005)
The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security

• Transnational market for force has developed

• Assumed cost efficiency
• Monopoly of force affected by use of PMSC
• Outsourcing enhances PMSC influence on foreign
policy process
• How and why PMSC are used
• Attempts to regulate industry
• Differences in opinions are based on different focus analysts
have on control of violence
 Deborah Avant

Political control Functional control of Social control

of violence violence of violence

Who decides about Will capacity of state Is use of force

use of weapons and persist or be established to integrated into
security related address security related international values
services? challenges? and norms?

In ideal world use of PMSC would ...

Keep state control

over organised Increase effectiveness of Promote international
violence upright or security actors values/norms
lead to improvement
 Deborah Avant

• Calls for pragmatic approach

 PMSC mirrored against ideal approach which is never
existent in reality, also when only governmental actors
perform together (NATO, Coalition of the Willing)
 For every situation where parts of the security management
are outsourced, there has to be evaluation of:
 Existing possible alternatives,
 Short-, mid- and long-term consequences, and
 Surrounding conditions
 Classification of PMSC

To whom how what

Open market • Contract mostly • Broad services
• IO hidden from public • combat
view due to it’s • security
• NGO
• Transnational
nature
• consultancy
PMSC
• Scope and type of
corporations
• States
contract publicly
• logistics sell
known
 Topics of discourse

Monopoly
of forces as
part of
democracy

Transparency Practical- Legal

restrictions
& political on use of
accountability
challenges violence

Use of
PMSC by
state actors
 Topics of discourse

Concepts of
political
sciences
challenged?

PMSC
PMSC weaken Theoretical competing
with
states?
questions government
services?

PMSC tool of
secret foreign
and security
policy?
Thank you for your attention!

Blog:
http://kathrinherbst.wordpress.com

LinkedIn:
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/kathrinherbst

E-mail:
Kathrin.herbst@brunel.ac.uk