ABSTRACT
A growing feature of the conflict landscape in developing countries is the privatisation of the use of force. This chapter explores how private military companies (PMCs) and private security companies (PSCs) have been involved in both security and development-related activities in developing states, using examples from Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia and Sierra Leone among others. Critics charge that private companies which provide services associated with conflict and peacekeeping, especially those that supply armed soldiers and military equipment to states and non-state actors, are nothing more than modern-day mercenaries. In the United States, PMCs are often termed defence contractors, but the overlaps with activities associated with PMCs can be extremely large. The mission of AFRICOM itself is to conduct security operations to secure Africa in support of US Foreign Policy aims, and the United States fails to recognise that this in itself may be interpreted as a security threat.
