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| Opportunities & Exposures: Security |
Hired Guns
Deborah Avant
01/01/2006
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Because PSCs are transnational companies that work for customers
all over the globe, the coordination among consumers is complicated. Resolving
disputes about the legal status of personnel and the law by which to hold them
responsible, for example, requires cooperation between different states as well
as the companies and individuals. Even more problematic is the temptation of
governments to keep information about PSCs hidden in order to preserve the
political cost savings of using them in the first place.
PSCs respond to
market forces. Unless large consumers such as the U.S. government work with
other states, companies, NGOs and citizens to create a framework for
articulating appropriate PSC behavior and reinforcing the belief that behaving
appropriately is a profitable strategy, the critics’ fears may be well
founded.
Art by Matt Mahurin.
 | Deborah Avant is associate professor of political science at George
Washington University and author of The Market for Force: The Consequences of
Privatizing Security. |
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