European Private Security, Corporate Investigation and Military Services: Collective Security, Market Regulation and Structuring the Public Sphere

Abstract

The relationship between the private security industry and public institutions and agencies is complex and by no means one-way. The industry assists and acts as a substitute for the public sphere, is governed by it, albeit in a partial and uneven manner, whilst restructuring the public sphere in pursuit of commercial advantage at home and abroad. This paper explores aspects of co-operation and governance in European and wider contexts. Each consideration—private-public security co-operation, the market regulation of guarding, corporate and military services on the global stage, and the (re)structuring of states and legal relations by the industry—raises distinct and yet cross-cutting issues, both analytically and for all stakeholders. It is concluded that boundaries between private and public security, and the greater permeability of these by private security than by public security, constitute a historical and ongoing aspect of the public-private interface.