Deborah Avant examines the privatization of security and its impact on the control of force. She describes the growth of private security companies, explains how the industry works, and describes its range of customers - including states, non-government organisations and commercial transnational corporations.

Copies 2-161 are paperback, 6th printing, 2008. "Reprinted with corrections 2006."

Private security and the control of force: the question3 -- Private security and the control of force: the answer 5 -- A transnational market for military and security services 7 -- Mercenaries, privatization, and other slippery terms 22 -- Current market compared 26 -- Why the current market? 30 -- 2 Private security and the control of force 40 -- Clarifying the control of force 40 -- How should privatization affect the control of force? 45 -- State contracts for private force 57 -- State regulation of private security 65 -- Non-state financing and the control of force 70 -- Methods and claims 77 -- 3 State capacity and contracting for security 81 -- Sierra Leone's contracts for military services 82 -- Croatia's contracts for military services 98 -- US contracts for military services 113 -- Comparisons 138 -- 4 Dilemmas in state regulation of private security exports 143 -- United States 146 -- South Africa 157 -- United Kingdom 167 -- Transnational markets and political trade-offs 175 -- 5 Private financing for security and the control of force 178 -- Transnational corporate financing and the control of force 180 -- Humanitarian relief in war zones 192 -- Conserving nature in the state of nature 204 -- Comparisons 215 -- 6 Market mechanisms and the diffusion of control over force 219 -- Market mechanisms 219 -- Diffusion of control 228 -- Institutional innovations 240 -- Competing mechanisms, conflict, and change in history 245 -- Institutional mechanisms and political processes 254 -- Globalization, the state, and the sovereign system 257.