ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the vexing questions, as well as what might be at stake in their answers. It describes the ways in which public–private distinctions are being drawn and unsettled, spheres of authority and governance coincide and clash, and how control and oversight are determined in the practice and governance of contemporary security guarding. The chapter highlights the interrelated dynamics of divergent security guarding contexts and practices and unsettles any tidy topographies of 'peace' and 'war', 'exceptional' and 'mundane', or even a spectrum between them. It discusses the guarding and brief snapshots of three different security guarding contexts to provide a backdrop for our discussion of the themes raised. The chapter also explores the central themes of public–private distinctions and authority and governance in relation to our threefold question. It connects issues of authority, control and governance raised in the context of armed conflict with concerns related to private guarding in non-conflict settings.
