ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the three identities that Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) claim for themselves: the ethical hero warrior, the professional security expert, and the new humanitarian. The multiple identities that PMSCs appropriate seem to allow them not only to seamlessly adjust to their clients' needs, but also to outdo their competitors and to project themselves as superior and unique security providers. By portraying themselves as soldiers, conventional businesses, or humanitarians, these companies set standards and norms for themselves and for others. PMSCs' growing involvement in conflict zones has resulted in flourishing research related to their categorization, their effects on the monopoly of force, and their regulation. PMSCs borrow from and establish themselves as humanitarian actors by closely aligning with what generally are considered the traditional actors in the field, i.e., humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for whom they work, with whom they cooperate, or from whom they receive credit for the work they do.
