Author: Caroline Varin

Publisher: LSE International Studies

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781138779488

This book assesses the use of 'mercenaries' by states, and their integration into the national armed forces as part of a new hybridisation trend of contemporary armies. The military has been a symbol of nationhood and state control for the past 200 years. As representatives of a society's cultural values and political ambitions, the armed forces have traditionally been held within the confines of the modern state. Today, however, soldiers are expected to operate in the shadows of conflicts, drawing little attention to themselves and to their actions; they are physically and emotionally secluded from a civilian population whose governments, especially in the West, are undertaking an unprecedented wave of demilitarisation and military budget cuts. Simultaneously, these same governments are increasingly opening their armies up to foreign nationals and outsourcing military operations to private companies. These experiments with the hybridisation of the armed forces have effectively changed the face of national security. This book explores the impact of this hybridisation on the values, cohesion and effectiveness of the armed forces by comparing and contrasting the experiences of the French Foreign Legion, private military companies in Angola, and the merging of private contractors and American troops in Iraq. The study concludes that, although foreign citizens and private security companies can contribute to the military effort and may be a useful foreign policy tool for contemporary armies, the impact that these non-state actors have on the national armed forces must be taken into consideration to avoid weakening the state's security apparatus. Furthermore, the differences between warriors of various nationalities and allegiances, and the difficulties in coordinating public-private partnerships in joint military operations undermine the legitimacy of the state - and by default its policies - by weakening the cohesiveness and morale of the national armed forces and by alienating the citizen and the soldier. This book will be of much interest to students of private military companies, strategic studies, international security and IR in general.