Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Legitimacy and Legality: the case of Private Military and Security Companies

Pirzada, Saadat LU (2018) SOLM02 20181
Department of Sociology of Law
Abstract
The growing influence of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in the international arena has altered the dynamics of security governance, challenging states’ monopoly on the use of force. The industry’s mushroom growth has not been accompanied by requisite regulation at national and international level. The lack of oversight and accountability has resulted in PMSCs, predecessor of mercenaries, violating human rights with impunity. This raises serious questions of legitimacy and legality. The aim of this research is to analyse the role of contracts and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of PMSCs to assess how states, especially the U.S., legitimise, authorise and legalise the use of PMSCs in failed and failing states. It looks... (More)
The growing influence of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in the international arena has altered the dynamics of security governance, challenging states’ monopoly on the use of force. The industry’s mushroom growth has not been accompanied by requisite regulation at national and international level. The lack of oversight and accountability has resulted in PMSCs, predecessor of mercenaries, violating human rights with impunity. This raises serious questions of legitimacy and legality. The aim of this research is to analyse the role of contracts and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of PMSCs to assess how states, especially the U.S., legitimise, authorise and legalise the use of PMSCs in failed and failing states. It looks at CSR and related documents of PMSCs and analyses the material using critical discourse analysis and van Leeuwen’s analytical tools of legitimation. The result shows that PMSCs self-construct the identity of a socially responsible corporate citizen. Government contracts are analysed using Trosborg’s rhetorical strategies in legal language stressing that the language-in-use is directive and paints a worlds-to-words picture. The empirical findings are expounded upon through the theoretical framework that combines the theories of transnational governance and incomplete contracts. Transnational governance and legitimacy highlights how PMSCs use their status as ‘security experts’ to create a quasi-regulatory system, lacking democratic legitimacy, to fend off calls for ‘hard’ regulations. The theory of incomplete contract accentuates how incompleteness of contracts effect the residual control rights of parties that may enable them to engage in opportunistic behaviour. These strategies allow states to legitimise and legalise the use of PMSCs, circumnavigating their obligations under human rights law. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Pirzada, Saadat LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOLM02 20181
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Private Military and Security Companies, Legitimacy, Legality, Transnational Governance, Incomplete Contracts, Corporate Social Responsibility, Government Contracts, Critical Discourse Analysis, Rhetorical Strategies in legal language
language
English
id
8948540
date added to LUP
2018-06-25 13:31:38
date last changed
2018-06-25 13:31:38
@misc{8948540,
  abstract     = {{The growing influence of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in the international arena has altered the dynamics of security governance, challenging states’ monopoly on the use of force. The industry’s mushroom growth has not been accompanied by requisite regulation at national and international level. The lack of oversight and accountability has resulted in PMSCs, predecessor of mercenaries, violating human rights with impunity. This raises serious questions of legitimacy and legality. The aim of this research is to analyse the role of contracts and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of PMSCs to assess how states, especially the U.S., legitimise, authorise and legalise the use of PMSCs in failed and failing states. It looks at CSR and related documents of PMSCs and analyses the material using critical discourse analysis and van Leeuwen’s analytical tools of legitimation. The result shows that PMSCs self-construct the identity of a socially responsible corporate citizen. Government contracts are analysed using Trosborg’s rhetorical strategies in legal language stressing that the language-in-use is directive and paints a worlds-to-words picture. The empirical findings are expounded upon through the theoretical framework that combines the theories of transnational governance and incomplete contracts. Transnational governance and legitimacy highlights how PMSCs use their status as ‘security experts’ to create a quasi-regulatory system, lacking democratic legitimacy, to fend off calls for ‘hard’ regulations. The theory of incomplete contract accentuates how incompleteness of contracts effect the residual control rights of parties that may enable them to engage in opportunistic behaviour. These strategies allow states to legitimise and legalise the use of PMSCs, circumnavigating their obligations under human rights law.}},
  author       = {{Pirzada, Saadat}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Legitimacy and Legality: the case of Private Military and Security Companies}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}