State Control over Private Military and Security Companies in Armed Conflict
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The past two decades have witnessed the
rapid proliferation of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in armed
conflicts around the world, with PMSCs participating in, for example, offensive
combat, prisoner interrogation and the provision of advice and training. The
extensive outsourcing of military and security activities has challenged
conventional conceptions of the state as the primary holder of coercive power
and raised concerns about the reduction in state control over the use of
violence. Hannah Tonkin critically analyses the international obligations on
three key states - the hiring state, the home state and the host state of a PMSC
- and identifies the circumstances in which PMSC misconduct may give rise to
state responsibility. This analysis will facilitate the assessment of state
responsibility in cases of PMSC misconduct and set standards to guide states in
developing their domestic laws and policies on private security.