scholarly journals From performance to performativity: The legitimization of US security contracting and its consequences

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 541-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Krahmann
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private Security ◽  
Performance Assessments ◽  
Military Interventions ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Security Companies

Discussions about the legitimacy of private security companies (PSCs) in multilateral military interventions abound. This article looks at how the United States has sought to legitimize the outsourcing of security services to PSCs through performance-based contracting and performance assessments. Both mechanisms aim to demonstrate the effective provision of publicly desirable outcomes. However, the immaterial and socially constructed nature of security presents major problems for performance assessments in terms of observable and measurable outcomes. Performance has therefore given way to performativity – that is, the repetitive enactment of particular forms of behaviour and capabilities that are simply equated with security as an outcome. The implications of this development for the ways in which security has been conceptualized, implemented and experienced within US interventions have been profound. Ironically, the concern with performance has not encouraged PSCs to pay increased attention to their impacts on security environments and civilian populations, but has fostered a preoccupation with activities and measurable capabilities that can be easily assessed by government auditors.

scholarly journals Diplomatic Security for Hire: The Causes and Implications of Outsourcing Embassy Protection

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenio Cusumano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
State Department ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private Security ◽  
Policy Recommendation ◽  
Foreign Service ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Diplomatic Protection ◽  
Security Companies

The increasing deployment of foreign service officials in fragile and post-conflict environments has enormously magnified the need to protect diplomatic premises and personnel. Consequently, several states have resorted to private security companies (pscs) as providers of diplomatic protection. As epitomised by the scandals surrounding the United States government’s use of armed contractors, however, the privatisation of diplomatic security has often proved problematic. This article analyses the scope, causes and implications of outsourcing diplomatic protection, assessing the extent to which the use of pscs by the us State Department offers an appropriate response to the need to secure diplomatic personnel in dangerous locations, and providing some policy recommendation on how to improve the effectiveness and accountability of privatised diplomatic protection.

Governing Private Security Companies

2020 ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Andreas Kruck
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Control Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private Security ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
And Control ◽  
Security Companies

This chapter retraces how states as governors have weighed and rebalanced the imperatives of competence and control in utilizing private military and security companies (PMSCs) as intermediaries. It argues that the complex and varying competence requirements of governors, derived from both their operational deficits and their legitimacy concerns, as well as changes in the salience of these requirements, have shaped the levels and modes of control imposed on PMSCs. Focusing on the United States, the chapter explains the shifting control mechanisms applied in different periods: 1) the 1990s and early 2000s, 2) the mid-2000s to early 2010s, and 3) the recent years until 2018. Competence–control theory contributes to a deeper understanding of states’ problem with controlling PMSCs. More generally, the chapter highlights that politics and power are key to grasping the evolution of control mechanisms in indirect forms of governance.

Private Security Companies and Institutional Legitimacy: Corporate and Stakeholder Responsibility

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Elms ◽  
Robert A. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Private Security ◽  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Public Provision ◽  
Moral Legitimacy ◽  
Institutional Legitimacy ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
Responsible Behavior ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Security Companies

ABSTRACTThe private provision of security services has attracted a great deal of recent attention, both professional and popular. Much of that attention suggests the questioned moral legitimacy of the private vs. public provision of security. Linking the literature on moral legitimacy and responsibility from new institutional and stakeholder theories, we examine the relationship between moral legitimacy and responsible behavior by both private security companies (PSCs) and their stakeholders. We ask what the moral-legitimacy-enhancing responsibilities of both might be, and contribute to both literatures and their managerial implications by detailing the content of those responsibilities, emphasizing the reciprocal nature of moral obligations. We suggest that the moral legitimacy of the industry depends upon responsible behavior by both PSCsandtheir stakeholders.

Market Opportunities and Political Responsibilities: The Difficult Development of Chinese Private Security Companies Abroad

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-45
Author(s):  
Andrea Ghiselli
Keyword(s):  
Private Security ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Security Industry ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
Chinese Policy ◽  
Market Opportunities ◽  
Overseas Operations ◽  
Security Companies

Building upon the conceptual work of Krahmann and Habermas, this study explains how political power and market forces in China combined to create an enormous domestic market for overseas security services and, at the same time, undermined the full development of domestic private security companies (PSCs). The growing responsiveness of the state to the request for protection of Chinese citizens and assets abroad made room for the initial development of Chinese PSCs’ overseas operations. However, the policy makers’ focus on political loyalty has inhibited the full-fledged maturation of China’s private security industry. So far, large foreign PSCs have been the main beneficiaries of this situation. The future development of Chinese PSCs remains possible in a gradual and pragmatic way, but Chinese policy makers will have to deal with important diplomatic and political questions before the development of any “Chinese Blackwater” will be imaginable.

scholarly journals The Role of Private Security Companies in the Provision of Security to Corporate Organizations in Sabon Gari Local Government, Kaduna State, Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S3) ◽  
pp. 264-266
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Private Security ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Security Companies

Security of lives and properties of people used to be the sole responsibilities of the State, but currently, the worldwide and growing trend in providing security services through private companies is clear in Nigeria, Sabon Gari Local Government to be specific. Corporate organizations in this local government rely on these private companies for security. This study therefore, investigates the contributions of private security companies in security provision for corporate organizations in the study area, and confidence the organizations have for them. A qualitative method of data collection was used. Purposive sampling using snowball was used. An in-depth interview was conducted to six informants from both the corporate organizations and the security services. Finding shows that the private security companies play important role in the provision of security and the corporate organizations have confidence on them. The study recommends that government should encourage and improve the activities of private security companies in Nigeria.

scholarly journals National, International and Legal Mechanisms of Control over the Activity of Non-Government Security Entities

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
М. В. Завальний
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Private Security ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Physical Force ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
Security Services ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
Business Structures ◽  
Security Companies

The author of the article has studied the reasons for introducing a control mechanism over the activities of private security companies, which play an increasingly important role in the security sector worldwide. These companies by providing security services, directly influence the security, human rights and democratic order of the country. In this regard, it has been emphasized that the issues of legal regulation of the activities and responsibilities of private security companies are particularly important for society and the state. The importance of controlling private security companies and security services is conditioned by the particularities of the services provided by these entities. Private security companies in the course of their activities can apply physical force, special means (in some countries even firearms) to citizens, carry out their detention, which in turn can cause degrading treatment and physical suffering. Further privatization and outsourcing in the security sector has led to a significant expansion of this area and increased risks of human rights and freedoms’ violations. The author has stated that the purpose of control over the activity of non-government entities in the field of security and safety is to prevent deviations from the established order of state security and public order protection, prevention, detection and termination of actions that harm the protected state interests. The need to strengthen this control is due to two main aspects: 1) there is a need to raise the standards of corporate governance in the field of non-governmental protection of human rights; 2) there is a more general tendency to regulate the behavior of all business structures regarding human rights in all areas of their activities. The author has distinguished four possible ways to influence private security companies: national legal systems and courts; corporate norms; international and regional voluntary initiatives; international and legal regulation.

scholarly journals THE EFFICIENCY OF THE USE OF PRIVATE MILITARY SECURITY COMPANIES (PMSC) BY THE UNITED STATES IN IRAQ

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raviq Ayusi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Developed Country ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Security Services ◽  
The Us ◽  
Military Security ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Security Companies

The shift of security paradigm post-cold war era has made the concept of security more complex, regarding the actor and its scope. The security dynamic trigger the emergence of new non-state actors in the security field. Private Military Security Companies (PMSC) is one of a non-state actors that provides security services. The United States as a developed country makes use of this service not only during wartime but also on other certain condition. The choice of using PMSC services is considered to have greater efficiency than the use of state military.How efficient can the United States get by hiring the PMSC? Based on the analysis, this paper argues that the US efficiency by hiring the PMSC is quite high because of the ability of the US to see the conditions, taking into account further and minimize the impact that would come. This paper will outline through three components: international security governance, the efficient use of PMSC services, and the consideration more about the impact of the use of PMSC services.

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