THINK PIECE 03 Summary • privatization of security ser ­vices can damage the monopoly on the use of force or prevent its emergence. • groups and companies engaged in performing tradi ­tional security functions include private military and security companies; militias, rebel groups, insurgents, or warlords; and organized crime. • for the growth of private security services include the neoliberal economic ideology, globalization, weak govern ­ments, violent conflict and wars, the»war on terror«, humanitari ­an interventions, public opinion, parliamentary scrunity, demobi ­lization of soldiers and lack of qualified personnel in the armed forces. • of privatising or dissolv ­ing and damaging the monop ­oly on the use of force include outsourcing(commercialization of military functions), hostile takeover(unauthorized non-state actors take over governmental functions), franchising(non-state actors perform quasi-governmen ­tal functions on behalf of foreign governments), and friendly takeover(consensus-based access to personal data by IT companies and governments). • the lines between the different types of privatized secu ­rity are porous. 1 Tendencies to Rearrange, Dismantle, Damage, and Destroy the Monopoly on the Use of Force- Causes, Consequences, and Types Herbert Wulf 1. The growth of privatized security services The trend of privatizing different kinds of security services continues, although both critical assessments of the ideology of the neoliberal market economy—a driving force for the growth of private military companies(PMCs)—and the pressure on public budgets due to the global financial crisis have somewhat slowed down the hypertrophic growth rate of the previous two decades. Various tendencies damage the monopoly on the use of force(where it exists) or prevent its emer ­gence, generally through privatization of security services, purposeful or unplanned. As a consequence, the monopoly on force is, de facto, rearranged, dismantled, damaged, or destroyed. Quite a number of distinct types of privatized(or non-public) provi ­sion of security can be observed. Non-state groups and private com ­panies are increasingly engaged in performing traditional functions of the armed forces, police, judiciary, border control, intelligence agen ­cies, and prisons. Private military companies are engaged in many conflict theaters across the world, with several hundred thousand»contractors« pro ­viding services for the armed forces, such as logistics, delivery of mail and food, interrogating prisoners of war, guarding military bases. The United States and other forces make use of such companies particu ­larly in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, but also in anti-drug cam ­paigns in Latin America and in other conflicts. Militias, rebel groups, insurgents, or warlords challenge govern ­ments in conflict-prone and post-conflict areas, and try to overthrow the government or simply seek to profit from the war economy. Organized crime, such as drug dealers and human traffickers(often in cooperation with governments or police or military forces), controls certain areas and imposes its»norms« on parts of society as violence entrepreneurs.