The commodification of war: Political, Legal and moral issues

Abstract

There are genuine arguments in favor of why and under what conditions the use of private military companies has become necessary (Kruck, 2014), but there is also a feeling of skepticism about the increasing commodification of war given the nature of force and violence in war, and the context of war itself. This paper argues that there are reasons to be worried. It argues that the use of PMC’s for the purpose of war raises significant political, legal and moral issues that we should really be worried about. It does not argue that these issues are novel, given that most of the issues confront the use of national armies also, but posits that the commodification of war amplifies these issues. It adopts the definition of PMCs, by Chesterman and Lehnardt (2007:3) as those firms that ‘provide services outside their home states with the potential use of lethal force, as well as training and advice to militaries that substantially affects their war-fighting capacities.