Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Private military companies – United States'

Submitted by TOMAZ OLIVEIRA PAOLIELLO null (tomazop@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-03-24T22:18:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tomaz oliveira paoliello para std.pdf: 1538210 bytes, checksum: fc09f2df0f8f48bbd2daf0937fa8a04e (MD5)
Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-03-28T14:24:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 paoliello_t_dr_mar.pdf: 1538210 bytes, checksum: fc09f2df0f8f48bbd2daf0937fa8a04e (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-28T14:24:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 paoliello_t_dr_mar.pdf: 1538210 bytes, checksum: fc09f2df0f8f48bbd2daf0937fa8a04e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-29
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
As empresas militares e de segurança privada (PMSC) são um novo ator que tem despertado grande atenção nos debates dentro da disciplina Relações Internacionais. Através do estudo de uma companhia especificamente, a norteamericana DynCorp, procuramos investigar qual a natureza desse ator dentro do grande processo de globalização. A literatura sobre as PMSC geralmente apresenta a ideia de que o aparecimento de tais atores tenha ocorrido através de forças de oferta e demanda espontâneas e circunstanciais. A hipótese auxiliar dessa ideia, que os Estados estejam se afastando das novas guerras, é aqui desafiada e substituída por outra. O Estado, particularmente os EUA, se adaptou em sua capacidade de engajamento em conflitos através da contratação das PMSC, e estimulou o crescimento de um mercado de segurança privada. A empresa Dyncorp faz parte desse movimento. Investigaremos a relação de co-constituição, na qual empresas e Estado se articulam para desenvolver o novo “mercado da força”, e o nascimento das PMSC como atores de natureza híbrida, associados às transformações do Estado neoliberal. O estudo da DynCorp se desdobra em três dimensões: sua face empresarial, como companhia transnacional associada às lógicas de mercado; uma face combatente, um dos novos atores nos palcos de conflitos contemporâneos; e como parte constituinte de um aparato de política externa, associado a seu cliente único, o governo dos Estados Unidos.
Private military and security companies (PMSC) is a new actor that has attracted great attention in the debates within the International Relations discipline. Through the study of a particular north-american company, DynCorp, we seek to investigate the nature of these actors in the great process of globalization. The literature on PMSC usually presents the idea that the emergence of such players has occurred through spontaneous supply and demand forces. The hypothesis that assist this idea is that the states are moving away from the new wars. Here this hypothesis is challenged and replaced by another. The State, particularly the US, has adapted its engagement in capacity in conflicts by engaging the PMSC, and stimulating the growth of a private security market. DynCorp is part of this movement. We investigate the relationship of co-constitution, in which companies and state are organized to develop the new "market for force", and the birth of PMSC as actors of a hybrid nature, associated with the transformation of the neoliberal state. The study of DynCorp unfolds in three dimensions: its corporate face, as a transnational company associated with market principles; a fighting face, as one of the new actors on the stage of contemporary conflicts; and as a constituent part of a foreign policy apparatus, associated with their only customer, the United States government.

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) have become increasingly important actors since the end of the Cold War. They provide a wide range of services and are therefore difficult to classify. Many view them as new front companies for mercenaries, which this thesis argues is not the case. Few states have put in place legislation to deal with the problems caused by these companies, and they are therefore generally not accountable to states. This is problematic because their services are within an area where states have traditionally had monopoly. This thesis studies the new South African legislation, the Prohibition of Mercenary Activities and Regulation of Certain Activities in Country of Armed Conflict Act of 2006, which was put in place in order to ban mercenaries and regulate the services offered by the private military and security companies based in the country. By comparing it to the older South African legislation, the thesis evaluates the extent to which the new legislation has been able to close loopholes inherent in the old legislation. The new South African legislation is also compared to the international conventions which bans mercenaries. By banning these actors, South Africa is very much in line with the international community when it designed the conventions. However, PNSCs are not mercenaries. The thesis then compares the new South African legislation to the domestic regulation in place in the United States of America. It finds that despite having many of the same weaknesses as the South African legislation, it is more likely that the American regulation will be abided by than the South African. This is due to the positive relationship between the US government and American PMSCs, and the fact that the government is a major client of the companies. South Africa does not enjoy the same positive relationship with its companies. Finally, the new South African legislation is compared to the UK Green Paper of 2002, which presented options of how to deal with the companies. The ban on mercenaries put in place by the new South African legislation was discouraged in the Green Paper. The licensing regime (as in the USA) that was proposed by the Green Paper, however, is similar to the authorisation scheme established in South Africa.

Orientador: Reginaldo Mattar Nasser
Banca: Flavia de Campos Mello
Banca: Paulo José dos Reis Pereira
Banca: Vera da Silva Telles
Banca: Marco Aurélio Chaves Cepik
O Programa de Pós-Graduação em Relações Internacionais é instituído em parceria com a Unesp/Unicamp/PUC-SP, em projeto subsidiado pela CAPES, intitulado "Programa San Tiago Dantas"
Resumo: As empresas militares e de segurança privada (PMSC) são um novo ator que tem despertado grande atenção nos debates dentro da disciplina Relações Internacionais. Através do estudo de uma companhia especificamente, a norteamericana DynCorp, procuramos investigar qual a natureza desse ator dentro do grande processo de globalização. A literatura sobre as PMSC geralmente apresenta a ideia de que o aparecimento de tais atores tenha ocorrido através de forças de oferta e demanda espontâneas e circunstanciais. A hipótese auxiliar dessa ideia, que os Estados estejam se afastando das novas guerras, é aqui desafiada e substituída por outra. O Estado, particularmente os EUA, se adaptou em sua capacidade de engajamento em conflitos através da contratação das PMSC, e estimulou o crescimento de um mercado de segurança privada. A empresa Dyncorp faz parte desse movimento. Investigaremos a relação de co-constituição, na qual empresas e Estado se articulam para desenvolver o novo "mercado da força", e o nascimento das PMSC como atores de natureza híbrida, associados às transformações do Estado neoliberal. O estudo da DynCorp se desdobra em três dimensões: sua face empresarial, como companhia transnacional associada às lógicas de mercado; uma face combatente, um dos novos atores nos palcos de conflitos contemporâneos; e como parte constituinte de um aparato de política externa, associado a seu cliente único, o governo dos Estados Unidos.
Abstract: Private military and security companies (PMSC) is a new actor that has attracted great attention in the debates within the International Relations discipline. Through the study of a particular north-american company, DynCorp, we seek to investigate the nature of these actors in the great process of globalization. The literature on PMSC usually presents the idea that the emergence of such players has occurred through spontaneous supply and demand forces. The hypothesis that assist this idea is that the states are moving away from the new wars. Here this hypothesis is challenged and replaced by another. The State, particularly the US, has adapted its engagement in capacity in conflicts by engaging the PMSC, and stimulating the growth of a private security market. DynCorp is part of this movement. We investigate the relationship of co-constitution, in which companies and state are organized to develop the new "market for force", and the birth of PMSC as actors of a hybrid nature, associated with the transformation of the neoliberal state. The study of DynCorp unfolds in three dimensions: its corporate face, as a transnational company associated with market principles; a fighting face, as one of the new actors on the stage of contemporary conflicts; and as a constituent part of a foreign policy apparatus, associated with their only customer, the United States government.
Doutor

UN is sending peacekeeping operations all over the world. The paper will highlight that UN is not going only with their peacekeeping operation personnel, UN is also bringing private military companies into their ranks. This paper will focus on UN peacekeeping operations in Africa with the focus of non-interstate operations. Traditionally would not the Just war theory be the theory to apply to peacekeeping operations but by UN orthodox behavior of bringing private military contractors into peacekeeping operations, just war theory becomes appropriate. The purpose of this paper is to bring light on UN use of PMC and if PMC has increased UN security during peacekeeping operations. To be able to shed this light, a more extensive empirical study will be made to see UN practice with PMC by descriptive statistics. The paper finds that PMC has been an active force within peacekeeping operations and that PMC is performing several military tasks for UN. It further sees that UN fatalities are increasing in the cases when PMC has been present. Further insight into peacekeeping operation is that higher taxpaying nations are sending fewer troops and commanders compared to less taxpaying nations.

Tens of thousands of contractors work for private military and security companies (PMSCs) in armed conflicts around the world, often hired by states to fulfil functions that were once the exclusive domain of the armed forces. In this context, PMSCs have performed a wide range of activities including offensive combat, prisoner interrogation, military advice and training, armed security, intelligence and logistics. The proliferation of PMSCs during the past two decades has challenged conventional conceptions of the state as the primary holder of coercive power in the international arena. Nonetheless, this Thesis argues that the traditional state-centred frameworks of international law remain vitally relevant to the regulation of private security activity in contemporary armed conflict. Three states are in a strong position to influence PMSCs in this context—the state that hires the PMSC, the state in which the company is based or incorporated, and the state in which the company operates—and this capacity for influence enables international law to regulate PMSC activities indirectly using these states as an intermediary. This Thesis critically analyses the pertinent international obligations on these three categories of states and identifies the circumstances in which PMSC misconduct may give rise to state responsibility in each case. It also examines the recent practice of certain key states in order to evaluate their compliance with these obligations. By providing a clear and in-depth analysis of states' international obligations to control PMSCs in armed conflict, this Thesis may not only facilitate the assessment of state responsibility in cases of PMSC misconduct; it may also play an important prospective role in setting standards of conduct for states in relation to the private security industry. This in turn may encourage and assist states to develop their domestic laws and policies in order to improve overall PMSC compliance with international law.

This thesis analyses critically the hypothesis that Private Military Companies (PMCs) are a viable option for direct involvement in UN peacekeeping missions in African states. The involvement of PMCs in the affairs of states is a controversial and divisive issue, but since the end of the Cold War, they have become increasingly involved in the security structures of African states, and in post-conflict reform of such structures. They have also become involved in tasks related to commercial activities central to the political economies of African states. Indeed, Africa was the theatre in which PMCs evolved from an opportunist phenomenon that emerged in response to rapid change in the security situation, to become part of the emerging post-Cold War political economy. In the 1990s, PMCs undertook operations in Angola and Sierra Leone that brought about situations where warring factions were compelled to negotiate settlements. While the response of the international community was predominantly one of condemnation of their involvement, others pointed out that operations conducted by PMCs had been remarkably swift and inexpensive in bringing violent conflict to an end, in contrast to those conducted by the UN in African states. PMCs’ involvement in peacekeeping operations is becoming increasingly relevant; they have been involved in every major UN peacekeeping mission since 1990, and have carried out tasks spanning a wide range of UN functions. In 1995, Christopher Bellamy speculated that the UN might augment their numbers with private soldiers. While this was dismissed at the time, it is a concept that continues to resurface when the UN has difficulty finding sufficient adequately trained troops for its peacekeeping missions. This thesis investigates the hypothesis that PMCs are a viable option, in practical, political, legal, economic and moral terms, for involvement in such missions.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2003.
"MBA professional report"--Cover. Thesis advisor(s): Jeffrey R. Cuskey, Cary Simon. Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-109). Also available online.

Lo studio si inserisce nel dibattito sul potere delle multinazionali e il rispetto dei diritti umani fondamentali e approfondisce i concetti di responsabilità sociale delle imprese (CSR) e della loro "accountability", inquadrando l'analisi nel contesto più ampio degli investimenti esteri diretti (FDI), con i relativi aspetti economici, tecnologici e sociali, nonché ambientali e politici. Si analizzano le norme internazionali in tema di rispetto dei diritti umani da parte delle aziende, ed i meccanismi legali per rendere le società "accountable", soprattutto in caso di complicità aziendali negli abusi perpetrati dagli Stati, anche attraverso la giurisprudenza dei tribunali penali internazionali e dei tribunali statunitensi. Viene data attenzione al settore della sicurezza, i.e. "Private Military and Security Companies" (PMSCs, interessato da notevole crescita negli ultimi decenni. Le PMSCs, impiegate da parte dei governi che esternalizzano una funzione tipicamente dello stato e da imprese e ONG attive in contesti difficili, hanno operato senza adeguato controllo. Le loro attività sollevano questioni su potenziali abusi dei diritti umani commessi dai propri dipendenti oltre che su violazioni dei diritti del lavoro subite dagli stessi. Le azioni ONU per portare le PMSCs fuori dalla 'zona legale grigia' in cui hanno operato vengono trattate insieme alle iniziative di autoregolamentazione.
The study, given the debate about the increasing power of corporations and the attempts to ensure their respect of fundamental human rights, deepens the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate accountability, framing the analysis within the broader discourse of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), with its economic, technological and social aspects as well as environmental and political issues. International standards in the area of corporations’ human rights obligations are analyzed in addition to legal mechanisms to hold corporations accountable, particularly for corporate complicity in human rights abuses by States, through the jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals and U.S. Courts. Special attention is given to the security sector, i.e. Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs), interested in the last decades by a steady growth. PMSCs, increasingly contracted by governments willing to outsource a typical state function and by companies and NGOs active in difficult contexts, have been operating without proper supervision and accountability. PMSCs activities raise issues concerning potential human rights violations committed by their employees and labour rights abuses their employees might suffer themselves. UN actions aimed at bringing PMSCs out of the legal ‘grey zone’ where they have been operating are tackled alongside with self-regulatory initiatives.

Lo studio si inserisce nel dibattito sul potere delle multinazionali e il rispetto dei diritti umani fondamentali e approfondisce i concetti di responsabilità sociale delle imprese (CSR) e della loro "accountability", inquadrando l'analisi nel contesto più ampio degli investimenti esteri diretti (FDI), con i relativi aspetti economici, tecnologici e sociali, nonché ambientali e politici. Si analizzano le norme internazionali in tema di rispetto dei diritti umani da parte delle aziende, ed i meccanismi legali per rendere le società "accountable", soprattutto in caso di complicità aziendali negli abusi perpetrati dagli Stati, anche attraverso la giurisprudenza dei tribunali penali internazionali e dei tribunali statunitensi. Viene data attenzione al settore della sicurezza, i.e. "Private Military and Security Companies" (PMSCs, interessato da notevole crescita negli ultimi decenni. Le PMSCs, impiegate da parte dei governi che esternalizzano una funzione tipicamente dello stato e da imprese e ONG attive in contesti difficili, hanno operato senza adeguato controllo. Le loro attività sollevano questioni su potenziali abusi dei diritti umani commessi dai propri dipendenti oltre che su violazioni dei diritti del lavoro subite dagli stessi. Le azioni ONU per portare le PMSCs fuori dalla 'zona legale grigia' in cui hanno operato vengono trattate insieme alle iniziative di autoregolamentazione.
The study, given the debate about the increasing power of corporations and the attempts to ensure their respect of fundamental human rights, deepens the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate accountability, framing the analysis within the broader discourse of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), with its economic, technological and social aspects as well as environmental and political issues. International standards in the area of corporations’ human rights obligations are analyzed in addition to legal mechanisms to hold corporations accountable, particularly for corporate complicity in human rights abuses by States, through the jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals and U.S. Courts. Special attention is given to the security sector, i.e. Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs), interested in the last decades by a steady growth. PMSCs, increasingly contracted by governments willing to outsource a typical state function and by companies and NGOs active in difficult contexts, have been operating without proper supervision and accountability. PMSCs activities raise issues concerning potential human rights violations committed by their employees and labour rights abuses their employees might suffer themselves. UN actions aimed at bringing PMSCs out of the legal ‘grey zone’ where they have been operating are tackled alongside with self-regulatory initiatives.

"Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration from the Naval Postgraduate School, December 2004."
"MBA professional report"--Cover. Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-89). Also issued in paper format.

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2003.
Thesis advisor(s): Joseph G. San Miguel, Rodney E. Tudor. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-83). Also available online.

As empresas militares e de segurança privadas (EMSPs) deixam de atuar apenas para Estados e outras corporações, e expandem as suas atividades para o contexto de paz da ONU. A organização busca as EMSPs para melhor atender aos desafios apresentados nos contextos cada vez mais instáveis nos quais as suas operações de paz se desenvolvem. Considerando esse contexto, a dissertação proposta possui como escopo a busca por respostas ao seguinte problema de pesquisa: tendo em vista a crescente tendência na privatização dos serviços de segurança em operações de paz da ONU, de que forma as EMSPs atuam nesse cenário? A partir disso, existe algum meio pelo qual a ONU pode responder por eventuais ilícitos cometidos pelas EMSPs? Para responder a estes problemas, o método de abordagem adotado foi o hipotético-dedutivo. A atuação das EMSPs no âmbito da ONU se dá por meio da provisão de atividades de segurança, além de serviços de inteligência, de treinamento, de desminagem, entre outros. O engajamento entre a ONU e as EMSPs pode ocorrer de duas formas diversas. No primeiro caso, haverá a contratação diretamente pela organização e, no segundo, haverá a contratação da EMSP por um Estado-membro da ONU, o qual disponibilizará tropas para que atuem nas operações de paz. Esse cenário gera preocupações referentes ao potencial risco de impactos negativos que as EMSPs pode ter sobre a imagem da organização, uma vez que referidas empresas possuem um histórico de violações aos direitos humanos. Com isso, deve-se verificar se a ONU pode responder pelas EMSPs que perpetrem atos ilícitos no cenário de suas missões de paz. Para isso, parte-se da atribuição da conduta ilícita à organização, que ocorrerá conforme a forma de engajamento. Quando houver a contratação direta, a ONU não considera as EMSPs agentes e não assume a responsabilidade. Quando há a disponibilização de EMSPs como parte de tropas estatais, elas serão tratadas de forma análoga às tropas regulares e a ONU assume a responsabilidade. A reparação de danos causados a terceiros em decorrência de violações será feita pela organização, observados certos limites. Assim, em muitos casos as vítimas terão seu acesso à justiça frustrados em função das imunidades das quais a ONU goza. Não obstante a falta de previsões das quais decorra a responsabilidade da ONU no caso de violações cometidas por EMSPs, verifica-se que a estrutura normativa internacional não endereça essa questão, e refere, comumente, a relação entre Estados e EMSPs. Isso seria sanado por meio da elaboração de um documento vinculante a todos os atores que atuam nesse contexto, o que exige esforços de toda a comunidade internacional e, por isso, apresenta-se como um grande desafio.
Private military and security companies (PMSCs) cease to act only for states and other corporations, and expand their activities into the UN peace operations context. The organization seeks PMSCs to better address the challenges posed in the increasingly unstable contexts in which its peace operations develop. Considering this context, the proposed dissertation has as its goal the search for answers to the following research problem: in view of the growing tendency in the privatization of security services in UN peace operations, in what way do PMSCs act in this scenario? From this, is there any means by which the UN can respond for any wrongdoing committed by the PMSCs? To respond to these problems, the approach method adopted was the hypothetico-deductive. The activities of the PMSCs within the scope of the UN are provided through the provision of security activities, as well as intelligence, training, demining services, among others. Engagement between the UN and PMSCs can occur in two different ways. In the first case, the PMSC will be hired directly by the organization, and in the second a UN member-State will hire the PMSC and make it available as its troops to work in UN peace operations. This scenario raises concerns about the potential risk of negative impacts that PMSCs may have on the organization's image, since these companies have a history of human rights violations. With this, it must be verified if the UN can be responsible for the PMSCs that perpetrate illicit acts in the context of its peace operations. Therefore, it starts from the attribution of the unlawful conduct to the organization, which will occur according to the form of engagement. When there is direct hiring, the UN does not consider the PMSCs its agents and does not assume responsibility. When PMSCs are made available as part of state troops, they will be treated in the same way as regular troops and the UN takes responsibility. The reparation of harm caused to third parties as a result of violations will be made by the organization, subject to certain limits. Thus, in many cases the victims will have their access to justice frustrated by the immunities enjoyed by the UN. Notwithstanding the lack of predictions of UN responsibility in the case of violations committed by PMSCs, it is clear that the international normative framework does not address this issue, and commonly refers to the relationship between States and PMSCs. This would be remedied through the drafting of a binding document on all actors working in this context, which calls for the efforts of the entire international community and therefore presents itself as a major challenge.

Defence date: 06 June 2012
Examining Board: Professor Pascal Vennesson, European University Institute (supervisor) Professor Deborah Avant, University of Denver Dr. Christopher Kinsey, King’s College London Professor Francesco Francioni, European University Institute.
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
The increasing provision of military support functions such as logistics and armed security by private military and security companies (PMSCs) is often conceptualized as a functional response to new operational, financial and technological imperatives. The tendency to privatize military support functions, however, is also driven by domestic political factors. Drawing on neoclassical realism, I conceptualize the use of PMSCs as a strategy dictated by the need to circumvent the tightening hurdles to the conversion of societal resources into military power. Other things being equal, I argue that the tighter the constraints on the extraction and mobilization of societal resources, the higher the propensity to rely on the market as a complementary source of military power. I provide evidence for this theoretical connection by drawing a comparative analysis between military privatization in the U.S. and in the U.K. Specifically, I investigate in detail the tendency to resort to private military contractors during U.S. military operations in Iraq and U.K. military operations in Afghanistan. In both cases, the privatization of military support functions provided decision-makers with the possibility to circumvent existing constraints over the recruitment and deployment of active duty and reserve military forces. I then assess the explanatory power of my neoclassical realist explanation of military privatization against other theoretical perspectives, developing two competing explanations based on neorealism and organization theory. Although these theoretical perspectives offer valuable insights on the use of PMSCS, I show that due to its emphasis on domestic political constraints neoclassical realism proves better capable of shedding light on the privatization of military support and its variations across countries and over time.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Relações Internacionais - Estudos da Paz, Segurança e Desenvolvimento apresentada à Faculdade de Economia
Desde o fim da Guerra Fria, a Indústria Militar Privada cresceu exponencialmente em número de empresas e presença em cenários de conflito internacional, principalmente na figura das Empresas Militares Privadas. Contudo, a presença de agentes privados no fornecimento do uso da força não é fato inédito na seara das guerras e conflitos intra ou interestatais. Até ao fim do século XIX, a prestação de serviços militares por civis organizados isoladamente ou companhias de mercenários é um fenómeno comum na vida das entidades estatais. É a partir do século XX que o mercenarismo não só cai em desuso como é ativamente rechaçado pelas Relações Internacionais e Direito Internacional. Porém, no período pós Guerra Fria, há um (res)surgimento de Empresas Militares Privadas e do protagonismo de corporações nas forças armadas ocidentais. Simultaneamente a este ressurgimento de serviços militares privados, o cenário político-económico ocidental passa por um período de consolidação do neoliberalismo como ideologia hegemónica. Logo, o objetivo do presente estudo trabalho é analisar as causas do retorno aos serviços militares e de segurança no contexto dos conflitos internacionais, através de uma análise pós-estruturalista da história do uso privado da força, bem como da ascensão do neoliberalismo no sistema político económico ocidental e a relação entre ambos. Com auxílio de instrumentos como a desconstrução e arqueologia, bem como do conceito de governamentalidade, é possível a realização de uma análise que não visa estabelecer respostas objetivas, mas antes analisar o tema levando em consideração as questões temporais, políticas e sociais relevantes, assim como o papel da linguagem na consolidação de supostos conhecimentos objetivos.
Since the end of the Cold War the Private Military Industry has grown exponentially both in number of companies and in their presence in international conflicts, mainly in the figure of Private Military Companies. However, the use of force by private contractors is not novel in the history of war and inter or intrastate violent conflicts. Until the end of the XIX century, the provision of military services by civilians in a singular capacity or as companies of mercenaries is commonplace. It is only in the XX century that mercenarism is no longer a viable option and is actively rejected by the fields of International Relations and International Law. After the Cold War, there is a resurgence of Private Military Companies and a larger protagonism of corporations in western armed forces. Simultaneously to the (re)birth of Private Military Companies, the western political and economic scenario is going through a period of consolidation of the neoliberal hegemonic ideology. Therefore, the objective of our study is to analyse the causes of the resurgence of private military and security services in the context of international conflicts through a poststructuralist approach of the history of the private use of force, as well as the rise of neoliberalism in the West’s political and economic system and the relation between both. Through instruments such as deconstruction and archeology, as well as the concept of governmentality, it is possible to analyse the subject without searching for objective answers, but to better understand the subject considering temporal, political and social as contingencies, and also the role of language in the consolidation of supposedly objective knowleges.

A subject of this diploma thesis is a role of private military companies (PMCs) in security sector reform (SSR) in Iraq in a period from 2003 to 2011. The first chapter of the thesis focuses on goals and process of post-conflict SSR from a theoretical point of view because of an involvement of PMCs in post-conflict reconstruction which was taking place in Iraq. Part of the theoretical chapter is a SSR and steps which is the SSR process composed of. The second chapter concentrates on definitions and typologies of PMCs. This part of the thesis makes a distinction between mercenaries and private military contractors and PMCs themselves. Last but not least the second chapter encompasses discussion about a role of PMCs in a process of SSR in post-conflict countries. The third chapter is dedicated to a historical development of cooperation between PMCs and the US; it analyses roots of the US dependence on services provided by PMCs. A case study of Iraq elaborates on a role of PMCs in a process of Iraqi security reform. Aim of this chapter is to define advantages and disadvantages of usage of services provided by PMCs. By taking into account disadvantages employment of PMCs represents, steps that could help to avoid those in the future are suggested.

Defence date: 11 June 2014
Examining Board: Professor Hans-W. Micklitz (EUI/ Supervisor); Professor Stefan Grundmann (EUI); Professor Martin Gelter (Fordham University Law School / External Supervisor); Professor Luca Enriques (LUISS/University of Oxford).
An Annex containing data on which the thesis is based is available upon request to the author (lecia.vicente@gmail.com).
Toward the Liberalization of Private Limited Companies – A comparative study of the laws of Portugal, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States and its interplay with EU law’, I try to shed light on the dynamics of private limited liability companies (PLLCs), and how they can be legally designed to become efficient units of economic development in Europe and the United States. I take a social sciences approach to the legal question: How does the design of clauses establishing restrictions on transfer of shares of private limited liability companies affect investment made in these companies and their consequent development? To answer this question, I develop two parallel lines of investigation. First, I undertake an embedded historical study to trace the evolutionary patterns of PLLCs in six countries. Furthermore, I longitudinally track the standards of behavior of market agents in the selected jurisdictions. Second, I develop my legal research by looking at an anomaly regarding the transfer of shares and changes in the ownership structure of these business organizations. Transfer of shares in PLLCs is, for the most part, regulated by default rules which impose restrictions on transfers. Typically, the parties do not contract around these default rules. The anomaly lies in the fact that, even though shareholders of these companies do not opt out of these rules, shareholders often ignore them and/or breach them at a later stage.