Public or private? Blurring the lines through YouTube recruitment of military veterans by private security companies

Private security companies (PSCs) blur the lines between the public and the private sector through the provision of services to state militaries. Based on a multi-modal qualitative content analysis of YouTube recruitment videos aimed at veterans, we show how PSCs also challenge these boundaries through their hiring practices. By relating to veterans’ past as hero warriors and by envisioning their future as corporate soldiers, the companies appear as ‘like-military’ and as allowing ex-militaries to ‘continue their mission’. The findings contribute to scholarly debates about the privatization of security. They illustrate that similarly to the public sector, the private is also re-constituted through the military values that veterans introduce. The study adds to the literature on the visualization of war showing how video-based platforms allow security actors such as PSCs to construct their corporate identity in ambivalent ways by appealing to different emotional levels and by giving rise to different narratives.

GOING AGAINST THE TIDE: SEEKING REGULATIONS FOR PRIVATE MILITARY/SECURITY COMPANIES IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD

This article discusses the role of privatization of security in Africa, but its focus is on private military and security companies (PMSCs). The article proceeds on the basis that there is need for effective regulatory frameworks for PMSCs that operate in conflict zones of Africa. Thus, it begins by appraising the existing normative standards at the international, regional and domestic level that apply to these companies, and thereafter, identifies their shortcomings in light of the prevailing security conditions within the continent. The article then posits broad theoretical imperatives for designing a more effective regulatory framework for PMSCs and concludes by proposing the establishment an overarching continental regime constructed on the basis of the suggested imperatives.

The Normative Complexity of Private Security: Beyond Legal Regulation and Stigmatization

This chapter discusses the normative complexity of private security. It formulates a critique of the stigmatization of private security companies and of the emphasis in the literature on the limitations of legal regulation, highlighting the role of self-regulation in the form of corporate ethics and (international) branch standards. Based on a review of scholarly literature, (inter)national cases, and examples from fieldwork in South Africa, the chapter captures the growing plurality of actors and voices in a vastly diversifying private security sector. In order to overcome the traditional bias regarding private security and its corporate sector, the authors advocate an organizational anthropological approach to uncover regulatory alternatives and the ethical and normative diversity that is essential to a comprehensive understanding of the privatization of security.

Contractors in Iraq: Exploited Class or Exclusive Club?

Corporate privatization of security has generated a neoliberal iteration of an old profession: the private military contractor. This development has revolutionized security policies across the globe while reviving old patterns of inequality. Following neoliberal logic, outsourcing fosters two types of employment: the exploitative and the exclusive. The first refers to low-status individuals hired en masse to perform menial labor; the second refers to experts who perform functions central to the employer’s mission. We contribute to this discussion by focusing on the qualifications of a different subsample of this industry: American contractors who died while performing military and security functions in Iraq. We assert that such American employees directly engaged in mission-essential combat and security functions better fit the employment category of an exclusive, expert sector at the core of the private military industry.

The Privatization of Security and the Emergence of Private Security Companies in Crime Control in Nigeria.docx

<p>This study interrogates the participation of private security companies in crime control in Nigeria, with focus on the challenges militating against their performance in security provisioning. The police are the statutory agency invested with the powers of ensuring the security of lives and property of citizens in Nigeria. The rising incidence of crimes such as kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, terrorism, and human trafficking among others has demonstrated that the police have failed in providing the required protection for the citizens. The paper argues that the apparent inability of the police to adequately provide protection for all citizens provided the nucleus for individuals to search for alternative security provisioning, which culminated in the emergence of private security companies in crime control in Nigeria. The study contends that since the emergence of private security companies into the theatre of security provisioning, they have played critical role in ensuring security; thereby complementing the efforts of the police. However, they are confronted with certain challenges which militate against their performance. Some of the challenges include: lack of firearms, lack of supervision and lack of cooperation from the police among others. The study recommends among others: establishment of a security institute, improved synergy with the police, and government recognition of the private security sector.</p>

The Privatization of Security and the Emergence of Private Security Companies in Crime Control in Nigeria.docx

<p>This study interrogates the participation of private security companies in crime control in Nigeria, with focus on the challenges militating against their performance in security provisioning. The police are the statutory agency invested with the powers of ensuring the security of lives and property of citizens in Nigeria. The rising incidence of crimes such as kidnapping, armed robbery, murder, terrorism, and human trafficking among others has demonstrated that the police have failed in providing the required protection for the citizens. The paper argues that the apparent inability of the police to adequately provide protection for all citizens provided the nucleus for individuals to search for alternative security provisioning, which culminated in the emergence of private security companies in crime control in Nigeria. The study contends that since the emergence of private security companies into the theatre of security provisioning, they have played critical role in ensuring security; thereby complementing the efforts of the police. However, they are confronted with certain challenges which militate against their performance. Some of the challenges include: lack of firearms, lack of supervision and lack of cooperation from the police among others. The study recommends among others: establishment of a security institute, improved synergy with the police, and government recognition of the private security sector.</p>