Private military and security companies: industry-led self-regulatory initiatives versus State-led containment strategies

T he increasing privatization of security is a central feature of the way in which the control and oversight of armed force is currently being recalibrated -requiring no less than a comprehensive rethinking of the relationship between the state and the individual citizen.Studying armed actors and their functions has been an intrinsic part of the CCDP research agenda, and we thus welcome the useful contribution by Raymond Saner on this important topic.The Working Paper focuses on recent self-regulatory guidelines that have been created by private military and security companies (PMSCs) in order to deter calls for stricter regulations of the industry.This self-imposed quasi-regulatory space counters other international efforts -notably the Montreux Document and the International Code of Conduct -which seek to strengthen the resolve of states and PMSCs to uphold and respect international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights.This "battle of influence" over the regulation of the use of force, Saner contends, leads to rising tensions between stakeholders who form coalitions consisting of states, PMSCs, and civil society actors on either side of the regulation cleavage.The paper calls for new measures that continue to build on IHL and the Geneva Conventions, but that go beyond the current regulatory positions of existing international initiatives.This publication, somewhat exceptionally, was not generated from the CCDP's own research activities.But given the timeliness of Raymond Saner's contribution and the urgency of the topic, we thought it worthwhile to continue the CCDP conversation by publishing this paper in our series.Needless to say, the CCDP cannot take credit for the substance of the paper nor the recommendations it brings forward.