Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T14:19:43.170Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Outsourcing the responsibility to protect: humanitarian intervention and private military and security companies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2010

James Pattison
James Pattison*
Affiliation:
Lecturer in Politics, School of Social Sciences, the University of Manchester, UK
*
* E-mail: james.pattison@manchester.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

States have recently agreed that there is a responsibility to protect populations threatened by genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. The international community, however, often lacks the resources and willingness to carry out a key part of this responsibility, that is, to undertake humanitarian intervention effectively when required. One potential solution to this problem is to outsource intervention to private military and security companies. In this article, I consider this option. In particular, I present a largely consequentialist argument which asserts that, when two conditions are met, using these companies to bolster the capacity to undertake humanitarian intervention might be morally justifiable overall.

Keywords

authorityeffectivenesshumanitarian interventionthe Moderate Instrumentalist Approachprivate military and security companiesthe responsibility to protect
Type
Original Papers
Information
International Theory , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 1 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amnesty International (2009), ‘Amnesty International USA analysis of IPOA code of conduct, version 12’, Amnesty International USA, July 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2004 from http://www.amnestyusa.org/military-contractors/aiusa-analysis-of-ipoa-code-of-conduct-v-12/page.do?id=1520016Google Scholar
Annan, K. (2005), In larger freedom: towards development, security and human rights for all, A/59/2005. Retrieved 19 June 2009 from http://www.un.org/largerfreedom/contents.htmGoogle Scholar
Arneson, R. (2003), ‘Defending the purely instrumental account of democratic authority’, Journal of Political Philosophy 11(1): 122–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avant, D. (2004), ‘Think again: mercenaries’, Foreign Policy 143: 20–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayoob, M. (2002), ‘Humanitarian intervention and state sovereignty’, International Journal of Human Rights 6(1): 81–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, D. (2008), ‘Of “mercenaries” and prostitutes: can private warriors be ethical?’, in A. Alexandra, D. Baker and M. Caparini (eds), Private Military and Security Companies: Ethics, Policies and Civil-Military Relations, New York: Routledge, pp. 30–42.Google Scholar
Ban, Ki-Moon (2009) Implementing the responsibility to protect: report of the Secretary-General, A/63/677. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/63/677Google Scholar
Bellamy, A. (2009), Responsibility to Protect: The Global Effort to End Mass Atrocities, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Bellamy, A.Williams, P. (2009), ‘The West and contemporary peace operations’, Journal of Peace Research 46(1): 39–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brayton, S. (2002), ‘Outsourcing war: mercenaries and the privatization of peacekeeping’, Journal of International Affairs 55(2): 303–330.Google Scholar
Brooks, D. (2000), ‘Messiahs or mercenaries? The future of international private military services’, International Peacekeeping 7(4): 129–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, D.Chorev, M. (2008), ‘Ruthless humanitarianism: why marginalizing private peacekeeping kills people’, in A. Alexandra, D. Baker and M. Caparini (eds), Private Military and Security Companies: Ethics, Policies and Civil-Military Relations, New York: Routledge, pp. 116–130.Google Scholar
Buchanan, A. (2004), Justice, Legitimacy, and Self-Determination: Moral Foundations for International Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bures, O. (2005), ‘Private military companies: a second best peacekeeping option?’, International Peacekeeping 12(4): 533–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chesterman, S.Lehnardt, C. (eds) (2007), From Mercenaries to Market: The Rise and Regulation of Private Military Companies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christiano, T. (1996), The Rule of the Many: Fundamental Issues in Democratic Theory, Oxford: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Cottey, A (2008), ‘Beyond humanitarian intervention: the new politics of peacekeeping and intervention’, Contemporary Politics 14(4): 429–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, R. (1989), Democracy and its Critics, London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Evans, G. (2008), The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Foot, P. (1988), ‘Utilitarianism and the virtues’, in Samuel Scheffler (ed.), Consequentialism and its Critics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 224–241.Google Scholar
Foreign Affairs Committee (2002), Private Military Companies: Response of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, London: The Stationery Office. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/7179755/2002_oct_ninth_reportGoogle Scholar
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2002), Private Military Companies: Options for Regulation, London: The Stationery Office. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/pdf4/fco_pdf_privatemilitarycompanies.Google Scholar
Gantz, P. (2003), ‘The private sector’s role in peacekeeping and peace enforcement’, Refugees International, 18 November 2003. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/199/41034.htmlGoogle Scholar
Ghebali, V. (2006), ‘The United Nations and the dilemma of outsourcing peacekeeping operations’, in A. Bryden and M. Caparini (eds), Private Actors and Security Governance, Berlin: LIT Verlag, pp. 213–230.Google Scholar
Heinze, E. (2009), Waging Humanitarian War: The Ethics, Law, and Politics of Humanitarian Intervention, Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Holmqvist, C. (2005), Private Security Companies: The Case for Regulation: SIPRI Policy Paper no. 9, Stockholm: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.Google Scholar
Hooker, B. (2000), Ideal Code, Real World: A Rule-Consequentialist Theory of Morality, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Howe, H.M. (1998), ‘Private security forces and African stability: the case of Executive Outcomes’, Journal of Modern African Studies 36(2): 307–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ICISS (2001a), The Responsibility to Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.Google Scholar
ICISS (2001b), The Responsibility to Protect: Research, Bibliography, Background: Supplementary Volume to the Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.Google Scholar
Kinloch-Pichat, S. (2004), A UN ‘Legion’: Between Utopia and Reality, London: Frank Cass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leander, A.van Munster, R. (2007), ‘Private security contractors in the debate about Darfur: reflecting and reinforcing neo-liberal governmentality’, International Relations 21(2): 201–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lepard, B. (2002), Rethinking Humanitarian Intervention: A Fresh Legal Approach Based on Fundamental Ethical Principles in International Law and World Religions, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Lilly, D. (2000), ‘The privatization of peacekeeping: prospects and realities’, Disarmament Forum 3: 53–62.Google Scholar
Lynch, T.Walsh, A.J. (2000), ‘The good mercenary?’, Journal of Political Philosophy 8(2): 133–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, D. (2003), ‘Actual-consequence act utilitarianism and the best possible humans’, Ratio 16(1): 49–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montreux Document on Pertinent International Legal Obligations and Good Practices for States related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies during Armed Conflict (2008). Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.eda.admin.ch/pscGoogle Scholar
Nardin, T. (2006), ‘Introduction’, in T. Nardin and M. Williams (eds), NOMOS XLVII: Humanitarian Intervention, New York: New York University Press, pp. 1–28.Google Scholar
Nowrojee, B. (2004), ‘Africa on its own: regional intervention and human rights’, Human Rights Watch World Report. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://199.173.149.120/wr2k4/download/4.pdfGoogle Scholar
O’Hanlon, M.Singer, P.W. (2004), ‘The humanitarian transformation: expanding global intervention capacity’, Survival 46(1): 77–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, M. (2008), ‘A corporate alternative to United Nations ad hoc military deployments’, Journal of Conflict and Security Law 13(2): 215–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattison, J. (2008), ‘Just war theory and the privatization of military force’, Ethics & International Affairs 22(2): 143–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattison, J. (2009), ‘Humanitarian intervention, the responsibility to protect, and jus in bello’, Global Responsibility to Protect 1(3): 364–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattison, J. (2010), Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect: Who Should Intervene?, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattison, J. (forthcoming), ‘Deeper objections to the privatisation of military force’, Journal of Political Philosophy.Google Scholar
Percy, S. (2006), Regulating the Private Security Industry, Adelphi Chapter: IISS and Routledge.Google Scholar
Piiparinen, T. (2007), ‘The lessons of Darfur and the future of humanitarian intervention’, Global Governance 13(3): 365–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. (1999), A Theory of Justice, Revised Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roff, H.M. (2009), ‘Response to Pattison: whose responsibility to protect?’, Journal of Military Ethics 8(1): 79–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandline International (2000), ‘Open letter from Sandline on peacekeeping and PMCs’, 5 June 2000. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.sandline.com/comment/list/comment28.htmlGoogle Scholar
Schreier, F.Caparini, M. (2005), Privatising Security: Law, Practice and Governance of Private Military and Security Companies, Occasional Paper – no. 6. Geneva: Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces.Google Scholar
Scobbie, I. (1992), ‘Mercenary morality: a reply to Professor Coady’, in A.G.D. Bradney (ed.), International Law and Armed Conflict, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, pp. 71–91.Google Scholar
Seybolt, T. (2007), Humanitarian Military Intervention: The Conditions for Success and Failure, Oxford: SIPRI and Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shearer, D. (2001) ‘Privatising protection’, World Today, August/September 2001. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/199-peacekeeping/40933.htmlGoogle Scholar
Shue, H. (1996), Basic Rights: Subsistence, Affluence, and US Foreign Policy, 2nd edn., Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Singer, M. (1977), ‘Actual consequence utilitarianism’, Mind 86(341): 67–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, P.W. (2003a), Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Singer, P.W. (2003b), ‘Peacekeepers Inc.’, Policy Review 119. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/3448831.htmlGoogle Scholar
Singer, P.W. (2005), ‘Outsourcing war’, Foreign Affairs 84(2): 119–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smart, J.J.C. (1973), ‘An outline of a system of utilitarian ethics’, in J.J.C. Smart and B. Williams (eds), Utilitarianism: For and Against, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spearin, C. (2005), ‘Between public peacekeepers and private forces: can there be a third way?’, International Peacekeeping 12(2): 240–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tesón, F. (2005a), ‘Ending tyranny in Iraq’, Ethics & International Affairs 19(2): 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tesón, F. (2005b), Humanitarian Intervention: An Inquiry into Law and Morality, 3rd edn., New York: Transnational Publishers.Google Scholar
Tesón, F. (2006), ‘The vexing problem of authority in humanitarian intervention: a proposal’, Wisconsin International Law Journal 24(3): 761–770.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. (1994), Mercenaries, Pirates, and Sovereigns: State-Building and Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe, Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
UN (2004) A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, A/59/565. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.un.org/secureworld/report.pdfGoogle Scholar
UN (2005) 2005 World Summit Outcome, A/RES/60/1. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.un.org/summit2005/documents.htmlGoogle Scholar
Walzer, M. (2008), ‘Mercenary impulse: is there an ethics that justifies Blackwater?’, New Republic, 18 November 2003. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=a498d530-e959-4f1e-8432-8851075ac657Google Scholar
Wheeler, N. (2000), Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Witter, W. (2006), ‘Private firms eye Darfur’, Washington Times, 18 November 2003. Retrieved 17 August 2009 from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/oct/01/20061001-114438-5654r/Google Scholar
Welsh, J. (2004), ‘Authorizing humanitarian intervention’, in R. Price and M. Zacher (eds), The United Nations and Global Security, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 177–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar