On demand armies : private military company involvement in internal
      conflicts

Rodban, Milena.

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conflicts

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Rodban, Milena.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgetown University, 2009.; Includes bibliographical references.; Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. This paper argues that several indicators are present in all instances of success: close cooperation with the indigenous military, simultaneous political processes to address underlying causes of the conflict, and foreign support for the use of a PMC. Additionally, several indicators are present in the failures, including a lack of popular support for the retention of a PMC, lack of parallel political processes to address root causes and international pressure to force out the PMC. Indicators which do not appear to correlate with particular outcomes include the regime type of the government retaining the PMC, the type of conflict the PMC is called in to terminate, the goals the PMC is meant to achieve and allegations of abuse on the part of the PMC. This is vital knowledge for policymakers considering the use of a PMC for ending a conflict as it helps them to evaluate whether a PMC can be successful in terminating the conflict and also provides them with information for how to increase the chances of success.