Regulating the private security industry
Regulating anything is a long, arduous process with a lot of back and forth where change comes slow. No solution, if it ever comes, is ideal of course, but some regulation is better than no regulation at all, especially on a broad, complex and often vaguely-worded topic such as the private security industry.
The evolution of private military and security companies and the attempts made to regulate them demonstrate just how hard it can be to respond to quickly changing military and business practices. On the other hand, the PMSC industry is agile and can swiftly change to market pressure, as a result, while regulators are stuck in the procedure of negotiation, the target of their regulation is changing form.
The unfortunate consequence of this is that it encourages voluntary regulations because of the widespread view that the problem is too difficult. Voluntary regulations are certainly better than nothing, but by themselves are not sufficient. Rather, they are the lowest common denominator a variety of nations can agree on, so it should be obvious they are not enough to regulate an industry of such a lethal potential. Tougher regulations on the other hand would also be expensive to implement, and in the current fiscal climate are probably impossible to implement.
The first hurdle most can’t seem to agree on is the difference between a PMC and a PSC because of the vast variety of services such companies provide, from the mundane to the controversial. Lines used to be much clearer when companies focused either on domestic security services or international combat support, but today most companies offer both because of economic incentives.
Regulation of the private companies has essentially been a game of catch-up. Instead of seeking to introduce legislation to regulate the industries growth, it’s been led by the necessity to respond to problems within the industry. Every time a scandal breaks out, regulators respond with a lengthy process during which time the industry evolves, so oftentimes when a regulation is created it is already obsolete.
We cannot expect states or other regulators to predict the future and attempt to devise regulation that will cover all potential future manifestations of private force. However, we can expect that nations that host PMSC draw the lines of what is acceptable and what is not so there is a clearer path for future activities.
