The Privatization of Security and Change in the Control of Force

Perhaps the most dramatic incursion of the private sector into public policy is in the realm of security. Though the legitimate use of force is presumed to be the realm of the state, during the 1990s and into the new century the private sector's role in security has mushroomed. When Sierra Leone faced an insurgency in 1995, Valentine Strasser's government hired Executive Outcomes, a South African security firm, to train and support its troops. When the 1995 Dayton Accords required that the Bosnian military be rebuilt, MPRI (Military Professional Resources Incorporated), an American firm, was hired to advise and train the Bosnian military. When the World Wildlife Fund was faced with the possible extinction of the northern white rhino in a park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it solicited a bid from Saracen, a South African and Angolan security firm to train and protect the guards. And global corporations, like British Petroleum, Exxon, DeBeers, and others, contracted with private security companies for site security and security planning all over the globe.