Law Commons^™

The Forgotten Threat: Private Policing And The State, Elizabeth E. Joh

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

What do Disneyland, the Abu Ghraib U.S. military prison, the Mall ofAmerica, and the Y-12 nuclear security complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee have in common? They have wildly different purposes, but they share a common characteristic as employers of private police. This answer-indicative of the prevalence and numbers of private police today-would have struck the nineteenth -century observer as evidence of a gross failure by the state. Yet that reaction, in turn, would seem odd to us. Vocal support of private police can be found among public police chiefs, lawmakers, and even President Bush.

What kinds of criticisms were once …

Subcontracting Sovereignty: The Commodification Of Military Force And The Fragmentation Of State Authority, Jackson N. Maogoto

Jackson Nyamuya Maogoto

This Article has as its central theme the decentralization of the state’s control over legitimate military force with the consequential diffusion of governmental control that stands to fragment state sovereignty. It argues that the increasing centrality of PMFs to the prosecution of war is creating a changed national security landscape with PMFs increasingly influencing governmental policy both overtly and covertly. PMF heads many of whom are former high ranking military and civilian personnel now advise governments and in some cases sit on government advisory boards. Additionally they also offer governments a conduit for pursuing covert foreign policy aims and circumvention …