Regulating the role of private military companies in shaping security and politics

This chapter argues that given the way PMCs shape security concerns and more generally political priorities, civil-military relations as a regulatory concern has been strangely ignored in the debate on regulation. It suggests that preoccupation with security professionals’ role in shaping politics is as important when these professionals are privately organized in PMCs as it is when they are enrolled in public armed forces. It shows that existing regulation has not been adjusted to account for this fact and that the significance of regulating the role of PMCs in shaping politics is profoundly underestimated. The chapter therefore argues that putting the issue of regulating ‘civil-PMC relations’ on the agenda is essential.

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