Bogen drejer sig om den stigende privatisering af krig og sikkerhed i Afrika og er baseret på behandlingen af emnet på en konference i Prætoria i marts 1998. Men snarere end at følge trenden fra oplægget til og resultaterne af konferencen har vægten fra udgivernes side været lagt på at udvælge sådanne bidragydere til bogen, at emneområderne blev analyseret og præsenteret fra forskellige synsvinkler. 11 personer har ud fra hver sin særlige ekspertise bidraget som forfattere: Cilliers; Lock; Malan; Cornwell; Pech; Douglas; Vines; Cleary; Sandoz; Fraser; Mason.

This new book provides fresh and in-depth perspectives on so-called 'resource wars'. Highlighting the multiple forms of violence accompanying the history of resources exploitation, business practices supporting predatory regimes, insurgent groups and terrorists, this is an authoritative guide to the struggle for control of the world's resources. It includes key conceptual chapters and covers a wide range of case studies including: * the geopolitics of oil control in the Middle East, Central Asia and Columbia, * spaces of governance and 'petro-violence' in Nigeria * 'blood diamonds' and other minerals associated with conflicts in Sierra Leone and the Congo. This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal Geopolitics.

In Private Military and Security Contractors (PMSCs) a multinational team of scholars and experts address a developing phenomenon: controlling the use of privatized force by states in international politics. Robust analyses of the evolving, multi-layered tapestry of formal and informal mechanisms of control address the microfoundations of the market, such as the social and role identities of contract employees, their acceptance by military personnel, and potential tensions between them. The extent and willingness of key states—South Africa, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Israel—to monitor and enforce discipline to structure their contractual relations with PMSCs on land and at sea is examined, as is the ability of the industry to regulate itself. Also discussed is the nascent international legal regime to reinforce state and industry efforts to encourage effective practices, punish inappropriate behavior, and shape the market to minimize the hazards of loosening states’ oligopolistic control over the means of legitimate organized violence. The volume presents a theoretically-informed synthesis of micro- and macro-levels of analysis, offering new insights into the challenges of controlling the agents of organized violence used by states for scholars and practitioners alike.

A critique of the technocratic neoliberal paradigm of peacebuilding

This book investigates the role that interest groups have played over the years in influencing the government of Namibia, the World Bank, the European Union and project implementation authorities to not construct the proposed Epupa Hydroelectric Power Station on the Kunene River in the Baynes mountains, a region on the border between Namibia and Angola. Some of the issues brought forward by the interest groups are the socio-economic impact the dam would have on the OvaHimba, as well as negative consequences for the river’s aquatic and terrestrial environment. This book argues that interest groups and individuals have the ability to influence the above-mentioned institutions, and to such an extent that water politics and governance are not exclusively the domain of state institutions. As such, it argues that communal interest groups, living in remote parts of the world, can influence state institutions at various political scales.

This collection of essays presents 15 case studies of African countries whose recent past has been shaped by conflict. It examines the historical roots of violence and the potential for reconciliation and justice.

Is globalization good for democracy? Or has it made our governing institutions less accountable to citizens? Located at the intersection of international relations and comparative politics, this book explores the effects of globalization on national governance. Under what circumstances do the transnational forces that embody globalization encourage or discourage political accountability? Among the transnational forces discussed in the book are the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, multinational corporations, the United Nations, private military contractors, peacekeepers, the European Court of Human Rights, and several transnational social movements. Using in-depth case studies of situations in which these transnational institutions interact with national governments and citizens, Valerie Sperling traces the impact of economic, political, military, judicial, and civic globalization on state accountability and investigates the degree to which transnational institutions are themselves responsible to the people whose lives they alter.