To Escalate, or Not to Escalate? Private Military and Security Companies and Conflict Severity

Lees, Nicholas ORCID: 0000-0001-9879-7609 and Petersohn, Ulrich ORCID: 0000-0002-2423-5264 (2021) To Escalate, or Not to Escalate? Private Military and Security Companies and Conflict Severity. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 46 (12). pp. 1-24.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1057610x.2021.1935700

Abstract

The existing literature is unclear about whether private military and security companies (PMSCs) are a cause of increased conflict severity, or rather are simply hired within more severe conflicts. We argue that PMSCs do increase conflict severity, yet this is the result of an escalation strategy by states to regain territory from rebels. If contracted, PMSCs either substitute for host nation forces, or free up such conventional forces to engage in offensive operations. In both cases the conflict severity increases substantially. This argument is tested with OLS regression using data from 30 weak states from 1990 to 2007.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	10 Jun 2021 07:22
Last Modified:	15 Mar 2024 09:34
DOI:	10.1080/1057610x.2021.1935700
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3125819