... contractual work on the one hand and that of mercenaries on the other. Over the past decade, the phenomenon of mercenarism has become virtually inseparable in various international circles from the phenomenon of private military and security companies (PMSCs). There is often a great deal of confusion when people working under contract for private military and security organizations are not distinguished from true mercenaries, which are internationally outlawed. Mercenarism per se is not a new phenomenon....
... legitimately targeted?
Private military and security companies: Mercenaries in suits and khakis?
A basic starting point of the debate over the privatization of military force has been the question of whether private military and security companies (PMSCs) and their personnel should be classified as mercenaries. The proponents of PMSCs argue that, on the basis of existing international law, these companies and their personnel cannot be legally equated to mercenaries, given their corporate structure,...
... with the ‘War on Terror’. Apart from the general trend of the downsizing of government apparatuses, the budget cuts, and the subsequent outsourcing of a wide range of state functions, the growth of private military and security companies (PMSCs) was fueled by an emerging international context characterized by a combination of systemic, geopolitical and ideological changes. A major contributing factor was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the bipolar international system, due to which ...
