Local Competition and PMSCs’ Behavior in Civil Wars

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-102
Author(s):  
Seden Akcinaroglu ◽  
Elizabeth Radziszewski
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Military Effectiveness ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Local Competition ◽  
Peer Monitoring ◽  
Safety Concerns ◽  
Competitive Edge ◽  
Conflict Zone ◽  
Contractual Obligations

What is the significance of local or conflict-level competition on PMSCs’ military effectiveness? And what is the mechanism through which such competition improves PMSCs’ accountability? This chapter argues that variation in local competition, the number of PMSCs that operate in a given conflict zone, affects the level of accountability to the client. With the presence of multiple PMSCs, companies can anticipate the existence of informal peer monitoring. Whether gaining a competitive edge or safety concerns motivate companies’ monitoring of each other in the field, this puts pressure on PMSCs to fulfill contractual obligations and become more militarily effective or risk losing future contracts. The chapter argues that a greater level of local competition pushes companies to improve their skills and to limit fraud and human rights abuses, factors that contribute to quicker termination of war.

Global Competition, Corporate Structure, and PMSCs’ Accountability in Civil Wars

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-134
Author(s):  
Seden Akcinaroglu ◽  
Elizabeth Radziszewski
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Global Competition ◽  
Corporate Structure ◽  
Publicly Traded ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Publicly Traded Companies ◽  
Competitive Edge ◽  
The Government

The rise of global competition marked by the expansion of the private military and security industry has pushed companies to gain a competitive edge. To secure capital and, occasionally, to signal commitment to accountability in response to competition, some companies have changed their corporate structure and become publicly traded corporations. Publicly traded companies have more stakeholders than private companies; this makes them accountable not only to the clients but also to the public and the media. As publicly traded PMSCs face greater reputational costs for engaging in criminal behavior, they are less likely to commit fraud and human rights abuses and be more military effective than private PMSCs. Data on fraud and human rights abuses in Iraq (2003–2019) show that publicly traded PMSCs exhibit higher levels of corporate professionalism. Greater professionalism by publicly traded PMSCs should help tilt the balance of power in favor of the government and contribute to shorter conflicts.

Peace Agreements: Their Nature and Legal Status

2006 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Bell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Negotiated Settlement ◽  
Peace Agreements ◽  
Guidelines And Recommendations

The last fifteen years have seen a proliferation of peace agreements. Some 50 percent of civil wars have terminated in peace agreements since 1990, more than in the previous two centuries combined, when only one in five resulted in negotiated settlement. Numerically, these settlements amount to over three hundred peace agreements in some forty jurisdictions. International standards have even begun to regulate peace agreements. United Nations guidelines, guidelines and recommendations of the secretary-general, and Security Council resolutions have all normatively addressed peace agreements: both the processes by which they are negotiated and their substance, particularly with relation to accountability for past human rights abuses.

Conflict

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Moshenska
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Human History ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Conflict Archaeology ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject

The archaeology of twentieth-century conflicts is a rapidly growing area of study around the world. Encompassing world wars, class war, genocides, civil wars, human rights abuses, and acts of terrorism, it offers archaeological perspectives on events that have shaped human history. This chapter provides an overview of the development, key themes, and significance of twentieth-century conflict archaeology. Alongside a series of case studies that reflect the global scope and diversity of the subject, the chapter focuses on the archaeology of human remains from twentieth-century conflicts, and the role of conflict archaeology as a commemorative process. The final part of the chapter considers the future of modern conflict archaeology as an ever more significant, politically powerful, and intellectually stimulating interdisciplinary field of activity.

Political Executives in Military Regimes

2020 ◽  
pp. 754-774
Author(s):  
Natasha Lindstaedt
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
Separate Category ◽  
The Military ◽  
Over Time

Military executives often seize power because the military sees itself as the best institution to lead the country. Yet the track record of military executives paints a very different picture. This chapter explains the consequences of military rule. In doing so, this chapter justifies why military executives need to be studied as a separate category from other types of authoritarian rule, and how the evolution of the study of military rule has changed over time. Countries ruled by military executives are more likely to commit human rights abuses and become embroiled in civil wars than are civilian executives. In spite of this, military executives have been able to construct the myth that they are better at ruling than civilians. This chapter explains how military executives actually govern and what the future is for the study of military executives.

Documents and Source Material

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
Source Materials ◽  
Israeli Occupation

This section comprises JPS summaries and links to international, Arab, Israeli, and U.S. documents and source materials from the quarter spanning 16 May-15 November 2017. Fifty years of Israeli occupation was the focus of reports by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Oxfam that documented the ongoing human rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories. Other notable documents include Israeli NGO Gisha and UNSCO reports on the ten-year Gaza siege, Al Jazeera's interactive timeline of the Nakba, and an exchange of letters between the ACLU and U.S. senators on anti-BDS legislation.

Humanitarian Intervention and Non-Ideal Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramon Das
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Humanitarian Intervention ◽  
Ideal Theory ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Moral Integrity ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Target State ◽  
Target States

This chapter argues that the philosophical debate around humanitarian intervention would be improved if it were less ‘ideal-theoretic’. It identifies two ideal-theoretic assumptions. One, in target states where humanitarian intervention is being considered, there are two distinct and easily identified groups: ‘bad guys’ committing serious human rights abuses, and innocent civilians against whom the abuses are being committed. Two, external to the target state in question, there are suitably qualified ‘good guys’—prospective interveners who possess both the requisite military power and moral integrity. If the assumptions hold, the prospects for successful humanitarian intervention are much greater. As a contrast, some possible non-ideal assumptions are that (i) there are many bad guys in a civil war, and (ii) the good guy intervener is itself supporting some of the bad guys. If these non-ideal assumptions hold, prospects for successful humanitarian intervention are small.

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