Outsourcing, managing, supervising, and regulating private military companies in contingency operations

Abstract

This thesis examines the utilization of private military companies (PMCs) by government agencies of the United States in contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the roles that PMCs play in current contingency operations, and to analyze how PMCs can become more useful instruments in contingency operations if they are properly outsourced, managed, supervised, and regulated. In this regard, this study largely rests on transaction cost economics to explain the logic of outsourcing from governmental agencies' perspectives. On the other hand, principal-agent theory and new institutionalism provide the theoretical basis of using effective oversight mechanisms to exert better control over the activities of PMCs in contingency operations. This thesis recommends the United States, Iraq, and Afghanistan use the Montreux Document as a guide to better regulate PMCs in contingency operations.