| Review of: |
The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security by Deborah D. Avant
Cambridge University Press, New York, 2005
Pages: 328. £18.99 |
| Reviewed By: |
Michael A. Clauser |
| Reviewed in: |
Political Studies Review |
| Date accepted online: |
25/09/2006 |
| Published in print: |
Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 176-246 |
International Relations
The robust control of violence by nation states is revolutionising in the shifting sands of globalisation. Financed by a sundry consortium of governments, multinational corporations and non-governmental organisations, private security companies (PSCs) have assisted in mapping globalisation's past and future terrain. From Washington to Sarajevo and from Cape Town to Freetown, PSCs have both complemented and at times replaced official troops in the provision, consultation and support of military activities. The Market for Force offers a tour de force of the furthest academic research on the topic of PSCs to date and does so with scholastic mastery. 'Does the privatization of security undermine state control of violence? How does private security affect the ability to contain the use of force within political process and social norms?' (p. 3) These are just two of the decisive questions that drive this new, forward-looking book by Deborah D. Avant, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Global and International Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. Dr Avant aptly incorporates 'New Institutionalism' as the theoretical binoculars through which she tracks the evolution of PSCs. This theory understands institutions as 'structures that define and defend interests', which ultimately 'affect the flow of history'. (p. 254). It is easy to see how PSCs are such an institution. To this end, The Market for Force closely traces the functional, political and social changes in the control of violence incumbent to the market for force with a strong sampling of case studies. She investigates methods of regulation and control of the industry and looks to the future trade-offs of re-legitimising nonstate violence. Dr Avant's work is painstakingly researched (as evidenced by the copious footnotes) and so rich in detail that only concerned contractors, policy-makers, researchers or intrepid postgraduates should attempt its 264 pages of unflinching logic.
