Publication

This paper aims to interrogate how the increasing commodification of violence challenges the notion of the Weberian state. It contends that military functions should not be delegated to private agents, who commodify security as a public good, structurally altering and removing it from the public domain of accountability, legitimacy and control. Further it seeks to establish the link between the state and security and the implications for the state of altering security providing entities. Then it moves on to consider the factors behind the emergence of the private security industry and private military companies in particular, and what dynamics perpetuate its existence.