Ethics of Private Military Contractors

Introduction: Just War and Military Contractors

• OREND, BRIAN (2006) The Morality of War, Ontario, Broadview Press
• SINGER, P.W., Outsourcing War, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2005
• 60 Minutes: Blackwater, October 14, 2007

Historical Cases and Approaches

• PERCY, S. (2007) Mercenaries - The History of a Norm in International Relations, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• LANNING, M. L. (2005) Mercenaries: Soldiers of Fortune, from Ancient Greece to Today’s Private Military Companies, New York, Ballantine Books.
• THOMSON, J. E. (1994) Mercenaries, Pirates, and Sovereigns: State-building and Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe, Princeton, Princeton University Press.
• MACHIAVELLI, The Prince
• STARK, FRANCIS R. (2007) The Abolition of Privateering and the Declaration of Paris, XXX, University Press of the Pacific
• SCHUMACHER, GERRY (2006) A Bloody Business: America's War Zone Contractors and the Occupation of Iraq, XXX, Zenith Press
• SCAHILL, J. (2007) Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, London, Profile Books Ltd.
• SHEARER, DAVID (1998) Private Armies and Military Intervention [Angola, Sierra Leone], XXXX, Routledge

Problems for Just War Theory

• SINGER, P. W. (2003) Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Ithaca, Cornell University Press.
• AVANT, D. D. (2005) The Market for Force - The Consequences of Privatizing Security, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• PATTISON, J. (2008) Just War Theory and the Privatization of Military Force. Ethics and International Affairs, 22, 143-62.
• PERCY, S. (2007) Mercenaries: Strong Norms, Weak Laws. International Organisation.
• BURCHETT, W. G. & ROEBUCK, D. (1977) The Whores of War: Mercenaries Today, Harmondsworth, Penguin.
• SCHMITT, M. N. (2005) Humanitarian Law and Direct Participation in Hostilities by Private Contractors or Civilian Employees. Chicago Journal of International Law, 5, 511-546.
• BURMESTER, H. C. (1978) The Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries in Armed Conflicts. The American Journal of International Law, 72, 37-56.
• LYNCH, T. A. (2000) The Good Mercenary? Journal of Political Philosophy, 8, 133-53.

Problems for the Nation State

• SHREIER, FRED (2005) Privatising Security: Law, Practice and Governance of Private Military and Security Companies, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)
• MANDEL, ROBERT (2002) Armies Without States: The Privatization of Security, L. Rienner Publishers
• SMALL, MICHELLE (2006) Privatisation of Security and Military Functions and the Demise of the Modern Nation-State in Africa, Occasional Paper, The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)

Solutions

• BAKER, DEANE-PETER, ed. (2008) Private Military and Security Companies: Ethics, Policies and Civil-Military Relations, Cass Military Studies
• CARAFANO, JAMES (2008) Private Sector, Public Wars: Contractors in Combat – Afghanistan, Iraq, and Future Conflicts (The Changing Face of War), XXX, Praeger Security International
• JAGER, THOMAS, ed. (2007) Private Military and Security Companies. Chances,Problems, Pitfalls and Prospects, Wiesbaden, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

 Additional Sources:

• Dave Barnes, The Ethics of Military Privatization: The US Armed Contractor Phenomenon (2016)
• Sean McFate, The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order (2017)
• Adams, Thomas K. The New Mercenaries and the Privatization of Conflict. Parameters, US Army War College Quarterly. Summer 1999, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 103-16: http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/99summer/adams.htm
• Campbell, Gordon L. Contractors on the Battlefield: The Ethics of Paying Civilians To Enter Harm's Way and Requiring Soldiers To Depend upon Them. Springfield VA, Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics, 2000: http://www.usafa.af.mil/jscope/JSCOPE00/Campbell00.html
• Centre for Conflict Resolution. "Trust Me I'm a Mercenary" The Lethal Danger of Mercenaries in Africa. Seminar on the `Privatisation' of Peacekeeping Institute for Security Studies, 20 February 1997. University of Cape Town, South Africa: http://ccrweb.ccr.uct.ac.za/archive/staff_papers/laurie_merc.html
• Isenberg, David. - Have Lawyer, Accountant, and Guns, Will Fight: The New Post-Cold War Mercenaries. Paper presented at the International Studies Association Convention. Washington, D.C., February 1999. http://www.nyu.edu/globalbeat/pubs/Isenberg021999.html
• Grant, Bruce D. S. Military Expertise for Sale: Private Military Consultants as a Tool of Foreign Policy. National Defense University (US). 17th Annual Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Strategy Essay Competition entry, 1998: click here
• Mandel, Robert. The Privatization Of Security. Paper prepared for the International Studies Association 41th Annual Convention, Los Angeles, 14-18 March 2000: http://www.ciaonet.org/isa/mar01/
• O'Brien, Kevin A. PMCs, Myths and Mercenaries: the debate on private militaries companies. Royal United Service Institute Journal, February 2000: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/orgs/icsa/Old/pmcs.html
• Sheppard, Simon. Foot Soldiers and the New World Order: The Rise of the Corporate Military. New Left Review. Mar./Apr. 1998, no. 228, pp. 128-138. Available online at http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/sheppard.htm
• Wrigley, Christopher. The privatisation of violence. New mercenaries and the state. London, CAAT, March 1999: http://www.caat.org.uk/information/issues/mercenaries-1999.php
• Van Bergen Thirion, C. J. The Privatisation of Security: A Blessing or a Menace. South African Defence College, Research Papers, 1998: click here