Mercenary securitization: The challenge of state utilization of private military and security companies as proxies to the monopoly of violence

• Main Author: Rodriguez, Alwyn De Guzman
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2024
• Subjects: Private military companies; Private security services; Mercenary troops; Asian Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_intlstud/45; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdm_intlstud/article/1044/viewcontent/2024_Rodriguez_Mercenary_Securitization__The_Challenge_of_State_Utilization_of_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

States are the sole authorities in the monopoly of violence. However, they are not immune to the challenges posed by non-state actors, such as Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). While the existence and rise of PMSCs are heavily influenced by security privatization and ambiguity in international law, the activities of Russia and the Wagner Group raised questions regarding the utility and effect of PMSCs in the foreign policy of other nations as they pursue their interests with impunity. The utilization of PMSCs is often associated with plausible deniability, which makes them a suitable alternative for proxy war policies. The exposure of the Wagner Group’s activities and the Russian government’s acknowledgment of Russian PMSCs’ prerogative to contribute to its national interests present a new dimension on how PMSCs challenge the monopoly of violence. This research argues that state utilization of PMSCs as proxies challenges the monopoly of violence. The concept is anchored in the assumption that a state’s engagement in proxy war policies using PMSCs is a threat to the state’s authority on the use of legitimate force, both to the state utilizing the PMSC and to the state or actors whom the use of PMSCs is intended to. This research utilizes Buzan and Wæver’s securitization theory to analyze how PMSCs could threaten and challenge the state’s monopoly of violence. This research used the method of structured, focused comparison to examine the cases and revealed the variation of how PMSCs threatened states’ monopoly of violence.