الشركات العسكرية الخاصة كفاعل لادولتي عنيف : استمرارية أم قطيعة ?

Abstract EN

It seems obvious while studying the history of International Relations that the state control over legitimate violence came relatively late, compared to the long period where several non-state actors were taking part in warfare fields, such as mercantile companies, privateers, pirates, mercenaries and military entrepreneurs.

Therefore, there is no agreement between Politics and International Relations researchers about identifying the nature of the private military companies phenomenon.

While some scholars assimilate it to war profiteers’ old practices, other specialists define it as an exclusive phenomenon in international relations, despite the apparent similarities between PMC’s and traditional private military actors, especially those who combine profit motivations and participation in warfare.

This article aims at comparing PMC’s to mercenarism and military entrepreneurship, in order to identify the nature of the phenomenon and then to propose an approach to study PMC’s based on determining the extent of its links to previous similar phenomena.