ABSTRACT
How have PMSCs responded to the discursive legitimation challenges from the NGO community? This chapter investigates the counter-framing efforts of the PMSC industry. It shows that awareness raising and scandalmongering by NGOs have been successful to the extent that companies felt compelled to redress the damage done and prevent further harm to their public image. First, PMSCs co-opted elements of the NGO discourse by making claims to various (sometimes contradictory) standards of legitimacy, ranging from effectiveness to their selfless and patriotic motivation. In doing so, they conveyed the two-fold impression that they were not also independent from and superior to the state, but also very much akin to the latter, sharing its monopoly over violence. Second, companies tried to escape NGO scrutiny by assuming a professional and demilitarized image. Since the operation of Sandline International and Executive Outcomes in the 1990s (which had openly advertised their readiness to ‘pull the trigger’) and the Nisour Square shooting in 2007, PMSCs were at pains to highlight the mundane nature of their services.
