Војно дело (Jan 2015)
Use of private military companies in international conflicts: Ethical controversies
Abstract
The paper analyzes the ethical perspective of the use of private military companies in international conflicts, primarily in the post-conflict environment in Iraq and Afghanistan, established in the wake of humanitarian interventions of the US-led coalition. It proceeds from the assumption that indiscriminating transfer of military functions and responsibilities, without any related obligation to comply with the ethics of public service, has partly contributed to the involvement of private military companies in serious violations of human rights. It identifies a number of controversial issues that undermine the use of private military companies as legitimate means of foreign policy implementation, such as: essential difference between a private security supplier and a public servant; the 'many hands' problem in determining personal and corporate accountability; mismanagement; embezzlement of budget funds; lack of transparency; and the gap between corporate and organizational cultures in the public sector. Ethical controversy of the above issues is viewed through the lens of deontological model of the public service ethics and the virtue ethics. The paper concludes that the cause of unethical performance of government functions, delegated to private military companies, is found in the discrepancy between the public service ethos and the profit-driven corporate management, as well as in the lack of willingness in the private sector to comply with the set of values based on ethical teachings on duty and virtue.
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