ABSTRACT
Private military and security companies (PMSCs) and contractors raise quintessential issues of global governance and have relevance for international organ ization. There is a chicken-and-egg type relationship between governance and force; force can be a cornerstone of governance to coerce obedience from those who resist it, and governance can structure the conditions under which force is deployed. In regards to PMSCs this means they can enforce legitimate standards of global governance but are also constrained by them. Consequently, an analysis of PMSCs illuminates authority and power in global governance and, where formalized into rules, in international organization.
