The New Mercenaries and the Privatization of Conflict

Abstract

In January 1999, the Ethiopian air force was proudly demonstrating its newly acquired Su-27 fighter-bombers when suddenly one aircraft lost an engine and plunged toward the ground.The pilot ejected in a burst of pyrotechnics and parachuted safely to a landing near the spectators, but when he removed his flight helmet a very European face emerged, that of Colonel Vyacheslav Myzin, formerly of the Russian air force.Colonel Myzin is one of the new mercenaries.[1] A certain amount of near-hysteria has been generated in the past few years by the issue of privatized military elements such as the colonel, loosely characterized as mercenaries.The United Nations and some African states (some of whom hire mercenaries) have been especially vociferous in this regard.Nevertheless, the realities of the 21st century will make it inevitable that so-called mercenaries will play a greater role than in the past.It is a very old practice for rulers to fight some or all of their wars by hiring foreigners, militarily skilled groups and individuals who have no special ideological stake in the conflict at hand.Loosely speaking, these hired soldiers are grouped together as "mercenaries."At the dawn of the 21st century, when various entities (states, corporations, political movements, etc.) find themselves in need of military or large-scale security services, hiring mercenaries is an obvious recourse.When even major states are reducing their armed forces and showing less interest in foreign military adventures because of pinched economic circumstances and a changed political environment, smaller states may be doubly motivated to go the presumably cheaper mercenary route.During the 1990s a number of corporations termed "international security firms" or "private military companies" have sprung up to service this demand.These are distinguished from ordinary security firms that provide building watchmen and the like, essentially private guards.Such local security firms have limited functions and neither use nor provide training in military methods, leadership, or equipment.The new international security firms, however, embody all those features.

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