ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 turns to the NGO discourse on PMSCs engaged in the provision of non-combat services during the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It begins with a quantitative analysis of NGO coverage of the private security issue and identifies three phases in the NGO attention cycle which ‘peaked’ between 2008 and 2011 (culmination phase), following several major scandals involving human rights violations by PMSC employees. In addition to the labeling of PMSCs, the chapter explores how NGOs used multiple frames in respect of the four normative criteria identified in the previous chapters. Although the cautious framing of the first period of investigation has ceded more negative representations of the industry, e.g., PMSCs as a direct security threat for local communities, virtually all NGOs agreed that the industry might also play a constructive role – as an ally in the quest for increased accountability. This ambivalence followed from differences within the NGO community, which ranged from ‘radical’ to ‘pragmatic’ groups. The chapter also points to changes in NGOs’ advocacy strategy. In particular, NGOs adjusted their audience since governments (and the public) seemed largely unresponsive, whereas the PMSC industry appeared willing to accept at least some of the legitimacy claims advanced by NGOs.
