The first book dedicated to the sociology of privatized security, this collection studies the important global trend of shifting security from public to private hands and the associated rise of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) and their contractors. The volume first explores the trend itself, making important historical and theoretical revisions to the existing social science of private security. These chapters discuss why rulers buy, rent and create private militaries, why mercenaries have become private patriots, and why the legitimacy of military missions is undermined by the use of contractors. The next section challenges the idea that states have a monopoly on legitimate violence and questions our legal and economic assumptions about private security. The collection concludes with a discussion of the contractors themselves, focusing on gender, race, ethnicity, and other demographic factors. Featuring a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods and arange of theoretical and methodological innovations, this book will inspire sociologists to examine, with fresh eyes, the behind-the-scenes tension between the high drama of war and conflict and the mundane realities of privatized security contractors and their everyday lives.
Edited by:
Ori Swed,
Thomas Crosbie
Imprint: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Country of Publication: Switzerland
Edition: Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2019
Dimensions:
Height: 210mm,
Width: 148mm,
Spine: 16mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9783030074685
ISBN 10: 3030074684
Pages: 281
Publication Date: 26 December 2018
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
1. Introduction.- 2. Why Privatize: The Reasons Rulers Today Buy, Rent, or Create Private Militaries.- 3. From Mercenaries to Private Patriots: Nationalism and the Private Military Contractors.- 4. Legitimacy Building in Policy and Practice: The Case of US Private Military and Security Contractors (PMSC) in Afghanistan.- 5. The Expansion of the U.S. Military's Civilian Periphery and Corollary Progressive Changes in U.S. Military Law.- 6. Reserves Forces and the Privatization of the Military by the Nation State.- 7. Making Markets Responsible: Revisiting the State’s Monopoly on the Legitimate Use of Force.- 8. Gendered Companies, Gendered Security.- 9. The Specter and Labor of the Black Poor in South Africa’s Private Security Industry.- 10. Who are the Private Military and Security Contractors? A window to a new profession.- 11. Trendlines: Privatization and the Future of War and Security.
Ori Swed is Assistant Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Texas Tech University, USA, where he is also Director of the Peace, War, & Social Conflict Lab. His research focuses on the role of non-state actors in conflict and security. Thomas Crosbie is Assistant Professor of Military Operations at the Royal Danish Defence College, Denmark. His research focuses the linked themes of military politics, the professionalization of security, the privatization of security and the operational level of war.
