Security and mercenary force

Greedy, dishonourable, unreliable. The term ’mercenary’ is not generally associated with anything positive. Rather, their reputation as warriors for hire continues to this day. But are they a thing of the past, or are there similarities with today’s private military contractors and companies? This book examines the extent to which the activities and tasks of modern private military contractors differ from those of mercenaries in the past. Is the privatisation of military force, in all its facets, including purely logistical activities, really a new phenomenon that allows us to differentiate between mercenaries and military contractors? In order to explore these central questions, the activities of mercenaries in the past are examined in terms of type, duration and organisation. Economic and state-theoretical aspects are also considered and then compared with the conditions under which modern private military contractors operate.