Private security contractors in the debate about Darfur: Reflecting and reinforcing neo-liberal governmentality

International Relations

Volumn 21, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 201-216

  Leander, Anna ^a   van Munster, Rens ^b  

^a Department of International Economics and Management   (Denmark)

^b UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN DENMARK   (Denmark)

Author keywords

Contractors; Darfur; Governmentality; Neo liberalism; Private security; United Nations

Indexed keywords

EID: 34249070735     PISSN: 00471178     EISSN: 17412862     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0047117807077004     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, Darfur: A Short History of a Long War (London: Zed Books, 2005), and Gérard Prunier, Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide (London: Hurst, 2005).
2. Kofi Annan, 'Darfur Descending: No Time for Apathy on Sudan', Washington Post, 25 January 2006.
3. IPOA is a lobby group for private security companies mainly focused on expanding their role in international humanitarian operations.
4. Doug Brooks, 'Focusing on Sudan', Journal of International Peace Operations, 2(1), 2006, p. 4; see also David Pugliese, 'Private Military Industry is Eager for Nations to Contract Out Peacekeeping', Ottawa Citizen, 17 November 2005.
5. Deborah Avant, The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005); Anna Leander, Eroding State Authority? Private Military Companies and the Legitimate Use of Force (Rome: Centro Militare di Studi Strategici, 2006); Peter W. Singer, Corporate Warriors. The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003).
6. Wendy Larner and William P. Walters, 'Introduction: Global Governmentality', in Wendy Larner and William P. Walters (eds), Global Governmentality: Governing International Spaces (London: Routledge, 2004), pp. 1-20.
7. Nikolas Rose and Peter Miller, 'Political Power beyond the State: Problematics of Government', British Journal of Sociology, 43(2), 1992, p. 177. Foucault rhetorically asks: 'What if the state was nothing but a way of governing; if the state was nothing but a type of governmentality?' Michel Foucault, Sécurité, territoire, population. Cours au Collège de France (1977-1978) (Paris: Gallimard/Seuil, 2004), p. 252, our translation.
8. Michel Foucault, Naissance de la biopolitique. Cours au Collège de France (1978-1979) (Paris: Gallimard/Seuil, 2004), p. 112, our translation. Here Foucault gives the following definition of governmentality:
9. By governmentality I mean three things... I mean the set of procedures, analysis and reflections, the calculations and the tactics that make possible the exercise of the specific (although very complex) power which has as its aim the population, as its key form of knowledge political economy, and as its essential technical instrument security measures. Secondly, by 'governmentality' I mean the tendency, the line of force, which has tended for a very long time to establish in the Western world the type of power which one could call 'government' as dominant in relation to other forms or power: Sovereignty, discipline... Finally, by governmentality I think one must understand the process, or rather the result of the process, by which the state of justice of the Middle Ages and the administrative state of the 15th and 16th centuries is governmentalized little by little.
10. Foucault, Sécurité, territoire, population; Barry Hindess, 'Liberalism - What's in a Name?', in Larner and Walters, Global Governmentality, pp. 23-39.
11. Foucault, Sécurité, territoire, population, p. 111, our translation.
12. Michel Foucault, 'Space, Knowledge, and Power', in Michel Foucault, Power. Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, vol. 3, ed. James D. Faubion (London: Penguin, 2000).
13. Michel Foucault, quoted in Colin Gordon, 'Governmental Rationality: An Introduction', in Graham Burchell, Colin Gordon and Peter Miller (eds), The Foucault Effect. Studies in Governmentality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), p. 17.
14. Andrew Barry, Thomas Osborne and Nikolas Rose (eds), Foucault and Political Reason. Liberalism, Neo-liberalism and Rationalities of Government (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), p. 14.
15. Hindess, 'Liberalism'.
16. Osborne and Gaebler, quoted in Paul Du Gay, 'A Common Power to Keep Them All in Awe: A Comment on Governance', Cultural Values, 6(1), 2002, pp. 17-18.
17. John Clarke, 'Dissolving the Public Realm? The Logics and Limits of Neo-Liberalism', Journal for Social Policy, 33(1), 2004, pp. 35-6.
18. As governmentality scholars have pointed out, neo-liberal modes of governing already operate in a wide variety of social fields varying from local government, social welfare, crime, insurance, European integration and globalization. See, respectively, Kevin Stenson and Paul Watt, 'Governmentality and the "Death of the Social"? A Discourse Analysis of Local Government Texts in South-East England', Urban Studies, 36, 1999, pp. 189-201; Mitchell Dean, Governmentality. Power and Rule in Modern Society (London: Sage, 1999); David Garland, The Culture of Control. Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001); Richard V. Ericson, Aaron Doyle and Dean Barry, Insurance as Governance (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003); William Walters and Jens Henrik Haahr, Governing Europe. Discourse, Governmentality and European Integration (London: Routledge, 2005); Larner and Walters, Global Governmentality.
19. Ann R. Markusen, 'The Post-Cold War Persistence of Defense Specialized Firms', in Gerald Susman (ed.), The Defense Industry in the Post-Cold War Era: Corporate Strategies and Public Policy Perspectives (Oxford: Elsevier, 1998), pp. 121-46.
20. Didier Bigo, 'When Two Become One: Internal and External Securitisations in Europe', in Morten Kelstrup and Michael C. Williams (eds), International Relations Theory and the Politics of European Integration. Power, Security and Community (London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 171-204.
21. Christopher Spearin, 'Private Security Companies and Humanitarians: A Corporate Solution to Securing Humanitarian Spaces?', International Peacekeeping, 8(1), pp. 20-43; Hans Krause Hansen and Dorte Salskov-Iversen, 'Remodelling the Transnational Political Realm: Partnerships, Best-Practice Schemes, and the Digitalization of Governance', Alternatives, 30, 2005, pp. 141-64.
22. Ann R. Markusen, 'The Case Against Privatizing National Security', Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, 16(4), 2003, pp. 471-501.
23. Telephone interview with Doug Brooks, 26 October 2006.
24. Pascal Martinet, 'Sécurité: Les nouveaux mercenaires', Le Progrès, 8 August 2004; Pugliese, 'Private Military Industry'.
25. Brooks, 'Focusing on Darfur', p. 4.
26. Chris Taylor, quoted in Rebecca Ulam Weiner, 'Peace Corp.', Boston Globe, 23 April 2006.
27. Doug Brooks, 'The Challenges of African Peace Keeping', Testimony of Doug Brooks, President of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on Africa, 8 October 2004, available at: http://www.internationalrelations.house.gov/archives/108/bro100804.htm (accessed 31 October 2006). Elsewhere Doug Brooks has argued that
28. NATO is insanely expensive; it's not a cost-effective organization. Neither is the [African Union]. Private companies would be much cheaper. When we compare their costs to most UN operations, we came up with 10 to 20 percent of what the UN would normally charge.
29. Weiner, 'Peace Corp'.
30. Erik Prince, quoted in Nathan Hodge, 'Blackwater CEO touts Private Peacekeeping Model', Defense Daily, 23 February 2005.
31. Brooks, 'Focusing on Darfur', p. 4.
32. Max Boot, 'Send Private Security Companies into Sudan', Journal of International Peace Operations, 2(1), 2006, p. 9. Boot is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former editorial editor of the Wall Street Journal.
33. See, e.g., Ed Royce, 'Comments on Peacekeeping in Africa. Subcommittee on Africa Hearing of the House Committee on International Relations', Washington, 2004.
34. Charles Snyder, quoted in Pratap Chatterjee, 'Darfur Diplomacy: Enter the Contractors', 21 October 2004, available at: www.corpwatch.org (accessed 31 October 2006).
35. Markusen, 'The Case Against Privatizing', p. 483.
36. Markusen, 'The Defence Industry'.
37. A cost-plus contract is one where the firm is paid on the basis of its declared costs including a profit margin. There has been extensive discussion of the difficulties of the contractual practices in the sector. For general discussions see, e.g., P. W. Singer, Corporate Warriors. The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003). For a discussion on Iraq (which has received by far the most attention), see General Accounting Office (GAO), 'Rebuilding Iraq: Actions Needed to Improve Use of Private Security Providers', GAO-05-737, July 2005, available at: http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05737high.pdf (accessed 31 October 2006); David Isenberg, A Fistful of Contractors: The Case for a Pragmatic Assessment of Private Military Companies in Iraq (London and Washington DC: British-American Security Information Council, 2004).
38. Chatterjee, 'Darfur Diplomacy'.
39. Major Michael E. Guillory, 'Civilianizing the Force: Is the United States Crossing the Rubicon?', Air Force Law Review, 51 (2001), pp. 111-43.
40. Chatterjee, 'Darfur Diplomacy'.
41. Chris Taylor, 'Remarks by Chris Taylor, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Blackwater USA', George Washington University Law School, 28 January 2005, available at: http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2005/ articles/042805taylor.html (accessed 31 October 2006).
42. IPOA, 'Darfur/Sudan Petition', 2005, available at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/582138480?ltl=11622827 24 (accessed 31 October 2006).
43. On South Africa, see also Avant, The Market for Force; for France see the report preparing and discussion surrounding the adoption of the law relating to the repression of mercenary activity (n. 304 of 14 April 2003) available on www.asemblee_national.fr/12/dossiers/0202870102.asp (accessed 14 March 2007).
44. Guillory, 'Civilianizing the Force'.
45. See also Spearin, 'Private Security Companies', p. 22.
46. Brooks, 'Focusing on Darfur', p. 4.
47. See, e.g., Deborah D. Avant, 'Global Regulation for a Transnational Industry', International Peace Operations Association Quarterly, 1(4), 2005, p. 3; Doug Brooks, 'Ethical Security: A Challenge and a Necessity. Helping to End Conflict in an Effective, Professional Manner', Journal of International Peace Operations, 2(2), 2006, p. 4; Kevin Streeter, 'A New Morality: A Rising Tide to Lift All Boats. The Needed Change in International Conduct, both State and Private', Journal of International Peace Operations, 2(2), 2006, p. 8; Samiya Edwards, 'A Plan for Keeping Private Security Accountable. As Private Security Companies Extend their Reach, so too Should Oversight', Journal of International Peace Operations, 2(2), 2006, p. 10.
48. Telephone interview with Doug Brooks, 26 October 2006. See also Diana Basto Castro, 'NGO Community Dialog with IPOA Members. IPOA Roundtable Furthers Understanding Between NGOs and Private Firms', Journal of International Peace Operations, 2(1), 2006, p. 21; Tanner Ivie, 'Standards Committee Holds Landmark Simulation. IPOA Code of Conduct and Complaints Procedure Tested by Committee, NGOs', Journal of International Peace Operations, 2(1), 2006, p. 21. For the IPOA code of conduct, see http:// ipoaonline.org/php/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=35&Itemid=62 (accessed 31 October 2006).
49. Ken Silverstein, Private Warriors (New York: Verso, 2000).
50. Cavin Cawthra and Robin Luckham (eds), Governing Insecurity: Democratic Control of Military and Security Establishments in Transitional Democracies (London: Zed Books, 2003). For the reasoning behind this policy and for details of one of the key groups pushing in this direction see Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control over Armed Forces (DECAF) and its publications at: www.dcaf.ch (accessed 15 November 2006).
51. See Deborah Avant, 'The Implications of Marketized Security for IR Theory: The Democratic Peace, Late State Building, and the Nature and Frequency of Conflict', Perspectives on Politics, 4(3), 2006, pp. 507-29.
52. DECAF has brought attention to the difficulty of adopting control and regulation mechanisms to situations where armed forces are employed in multinational operations. When contractors are used, similar adaptation difficulties occur and are of course compounded if they are used in multinational contexts or generally when their principal is not the home state. Anna Leander, 'Regulating the Role of PMCs in Shaping Security and Politics', in Simon Chesterman and Chia Lehnardt (eds), From Mercenaries to Markets: The Rise and Regulation of Private Military Companies, forthcoming.
53. Anonymous US government official, quoted in Chatterjee, 'Darfur Diplomacy'.
54. Georgette Gagnon, deputy director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch in Darfur, quoted in Chatterjee, 'Darfur Diplomacy'.
55. Marketplace, 'Washington Using more Private Military Contractors rather than Military Troops at Overseas Trouble Spots', Minnesota Public Radio, 7 December 2004.
56. Eliot Cohen, 'Are US Forces Overstretched? Civil-Military Relations', Orbis, 41(2), 1997, pp. 177-86.
57. For analogous arguments in other sectors see Wendy Larner and Richard Le Heron, 'Global Benchmarking: Participating "at a Distance" in the Globalizing Economy', in Larner and Walters, Global Governmentality, pp. 212-32.
58. Telephone interview with Doug Brooks, 26 October 2006.
59. Brooks, 'Focusing on Darfur', p. 4.
60. See Prunier, Darfur. Oil continues to be a key bone of contention in the various peace talks. The rebels accuse the oil companies in the region of supporting the Khartoum government and Mohammed Targoni (of the Justice and Equality Movement [JEM]) emphasizes that no firm should be working in the region until the hostility is ended. See Xavier Harel, 'Paris réactive sa diplomatie pétrolière africaine', La Tribune, 19 February 2004. This concerns in particular the petroleum group Cliveden, a partly Chinese-owned firm with considerable investments in Chad and Sudan, and offices in the Virgin Islands, Geneva and Houston. See Sylvain Besson, 'Malgré les tueries, une firme basée à Genève prospecte au Darfour', Le Temps, 25 August 2005.
61. Flint and de Waal, A Short History.
62. Adel-Fatau Musah, 'Privatization of Security: Arms Proliferation and the Process of State Collapse in Africa', Development and Change, 33(5), 2002, pp. 911-33.
63. Richani Nazih, 'Multinational Corporations, Rentier Capitalism, and War System in Colombia', Latin American Politics and Society, 47(3), 2005, pp. 113-44. On the role of war as a social system, see also Mark Duffield, Global Governance and the New Wars. The Merging of Development and Security (London: Zed Books, 2001).
64. Brooks, 'Focusing on Darfur', p. 4.