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In the past two decades, private military contractors in the employ of the United States government have participated in dozens of conflicts throughout the world, from Iraq to Columbia to Liberia to Afghanistan. Indeed, the United States can no longer go to war without contractors, who provide essential security and logistics support to combat and stability operations. Yet we don't know much about the industry's structure, its operations, or where it's heading. Typically led by ex-military men, contractor firms are by their very nature secretive. Even the US government - the entity that actually pays them - knows relatively little. The author lays bare this opaque world, explaining the economic structure of the industry and showing in detail how firms operate on the ground. While at present, the US government and US firms dominate the market, private military companies are emerging from other countries, and warlords and militias have restyled themselves as private security companies in places like Afghanistan and Somalia. To understand how the proliferation of private forces may influence international relations, the author looks back to the European Middle Ages, when mercenaries were common and contract warfare the norm. He concludes that international relations in the twenty-first century may have more in common with the twelfth century than the twentieth. This 'back to the future' situation, which he calls 'neomedievalism', is not necessarily a negative condition, but it will produce a global system that contains rather than solves problems.

Firms and enterprises --- Polemology --- Private military companies. --- Mercenary troops. --- Mercenary troops --- Security, International. --- United States --- Military policy. --- Collective security --- International security --- International relations --- Disarmament --- International organization --- Peace --- Mercenaries (Soldiers) --- Troops, Mercenary --- Armies --- Non-state actors (International relations) --- Soldiers --- Foreign enlistment --- Private military companies --- Military companies, Private --- Military contractors, Private --- Military service providers --- PMCs (Private military companies) --- Private military contractors --- Contractors --- Defense contracts --- Private security services

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Polemology

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Disarmament --- Armed Forces --- Veteran reintegration --- Security sector --- Nation-building --- Methodology. --- Demobilization --- Methodology. --- Methodology. --- Liberia.

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Mercenary troops. --- Private military companies. --- Mercenary troops --- Military art and science. --- History.

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Internal security. --- Civil-military relations. --- Peacekeeping forces. --- Institution building.