Lecture Week 8 Flashcards
(13 cards)
Mercenaries
Any soldier fighting for profit in foreign army
What’s the difference between PMS’s and mercenaries?
their organization: permanent, legally established organizations rather than loosely assembled patchworks of individual soldiers;
their motives: driven by corporate rather than individual profit;
their markets, comprising a wide variety of public and private entities;
their services, broader than those provided by traditional mercenaries, largely yet not exclusive support rather than direct combat;
their patterns of recruitment: open and public rather than clandestine.
When did modern PMCs rise and how?
- it rose between 1960 and 1980 as the soldiers of fortune
- Watchguard International: founded by ex-SAS for operations in Yemen, Arabia, Oman, Zambia, Sierre Leone, and Iran
- Control Risks Group: ex-SAS searching for kidnapped individuals
- British Security Advisory Services
How did the end of the cold war led to more PMCs
- Military downsizing after cold war created surplus of ex-military personnel
- Increased demand for private military expertise in Africa and the Middle East-
- Governments started hiring PMCs for security services
- PMCs offered services to fragile stats, international organisations and businesses
- PMCs became a part of UN peacekeepng and military intervention
- Cost effectiveness: rapid deployment, specialised expertise, circumventing political and legal restrictions
PMCs changed therefore from small-scale contractors to large-scale corporations provinding battlefield support and intelligence.
How did 9/11 affect the use of PMCs?
After 9/11 there were some major invasions like the Iraq invasion and the Afganistan invasion
Iraq invasion: over 60 PMCs active, 20% of the total war cost of the US went to PMCs. They had the task of safeguarding essential installations and facilities, providing protection for key leaders and individuals and convoy escort.
Afghanistan invasion: 25.000 private security contractors recruited by the US department of Defense. PMCs became deeply embedded in Afghanistan’s security architecture after 2001. The US became dependent on PMCs as it enabled them to conduct a large-scale intervention with fewer uniformed troops.
Blackwater
- Founded in 1997
- Started as private security and training
- 2000: first major US government contract to train US navy personnl in Yemen
- They were key players in Iraq and Afghanistan. They offered security and protection services in conflict zones like protecting diplomats, government buildings, escort convoys, etc.
Why is Blackwater seen as a controversie?
- Nisour massacre
- Accusations of excessive force
- Lack of accountability
- Operating with impunity in conflict zones
Even a step further PMCs were seen as state proxies. explain.
- There emerged a blurred line between state and private military action
- Pmcs were used as proxies for government interests
How did China use PMCs?
-Increased prominence of PMCs in China to support their economic interests abroad.
Sadat
- International Defense Consultancy
- Military consulting, training, logistical support to islamic countries
- No direct combat services
- Role in Turkish foreign policy
How did Russian PMCs support the Kremlin’s foreign policy agenda?
-acting as war-fighting proxies
-providers of plausible deniability in hybrid, grey-zone scenarios,
-bargaining chips offered to foreign countries in exchange for mining rights and other concessions to Russian businesses and elites.
-most russian PMCs were created to participate in the conflict with Ukraine.
How are PMCs a short term solution and not causing long-term stability?
- it shifts in nature and size of violence: human rights violations because of the lack of accountability and legal ambiguity
-Stregthening states yet also undermining their legitimacy and sovereignty
-foreign policy by proxy causes an obscure responsibility for actions
-Loyalty of PMCs might be challenged by financial objects
