Private security without borders

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study is to provide an insight into the everyday life of the security industry – which has developed differently in many cases, but shares many similarities – by analysing the development of the private security sector in each country.
Methodology: Drawing on the academic work of researchers from the states included, the study provides an insight into the private security sectors of Estonia, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, the UK and Canada, as well as the international activities of private military companies, which are scarcely regulated by international law, by presenting sometimes surprising or even instructive examples and practices from abroad.
Findings: The author, by examining the functioning of private sectors in different nations, strengthening or hindering regimes and states, demonstrates that while the political debates surrounding the sector are largely similar in content, the responses to them may differ from state to state, and from nation to nation.
Value: In addition to the dominant trends in the Anglo-Saxon literature on private security, this study, which presents a new perspective on the development and functioning of the security industry, perhaps even for those who are new to the subject, also interprets concepts such as intersectional governance, anchored pluralism or global North and South, and examines the different theoretical content of private security from one nation to another.