The Power and Accountability of Private Military and Security Companies

In this Chapter, Hannah Tonkin examines in detail the challenges that confront states in supervising and managing private military and security companies (PMSCs) effectively in the field, particularly in weak or conflict-prone states. Effective management of PMSCs is problematic and the stakes are high. For example, there is the potential for PMSCs to challenge state authority and even impede, in the long term, the development of strong public institutions. The rapid proliferation of PMSCs in the 1990s led to a paradigm shift in military security, raising the question of whether democratic constraints are still valid and sufficient for the new institutions that dominate the use of force. Tonkin argues that states have been slow to adjust and have taken inadequate measures to constrain the use of force. There have been recent improvements, however. Tonkin suggests that for PMSCs to fulfill fundamental values, such as the achievement of physical security, their use of force must be democratically constrained. She concludes the chapter with a discussion of improvements in the regulation of PMSCs and the broader questions that remain to be addressed