The Principled Case for Employing Private Military and Security Companies in Humanitarian Interventions and Peacekeeping

Authors

Deane-Peter Baker, U.S. Naval Academy
James Pattison, University of Manchester, UK

Abstract

The possibility of using private military and security companies to bolster the capacity to undertake humanitarian intervention has been increasingly debated. The focus of such discussions has, however, largely been on practical issues and the contingent problems posed by private force. By contrast, this paper considers the principled case for privatising humanitarian intervention. It focuses on two central issues. First, is there a case for preferring these firms to other, state-based agents of humanitarian intervention? In particular, given a state’s duties to their own military personnel, should the use of private military and security contractors be preferred to regular soldiers for humanitarian intervention? Second, on the other hand, does outsourcing humanitarian intervention to private military and security companies pose some fundamental, deeper problems in this context, such as an abdication of a state’s duties?

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Recommended Citation

Baker, Deane-Peter and Pattison, James (2010) "The Principled Case for Employing Private Military and Security Companies in Humanitarian Interventions and Peacekeeping," Human Rights & Human Welfare: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 34.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/hrhw/vol10/iss1/34