The Impact of Private Actors on Security Governance: An Analysis based on German ISR Capabilities for ISAF

217 Pages·2013·1.97 MB·English

by  Gloria Westermeyer (auth.)

Globale Gesellschaft
und internationale Beziehungen
Herausgegeben von
Th. Jäger, Köln, Deutschland
Gloria Westermeyer
The Impact of
Private Actors on
Security Governance
An Analysis based on German
ISR Capabilities for ISAF
Gloria Westermeyer
Unterschleißheim, Germany
Zgl. Dissertation Universität der Bundeswehr München, 2013
ISBN 978-3-658-02229-7 ISBN 978-3-658-02230-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-02230-3
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To my Parents
Contents
Contents
Contents

Preface ............................................................................................................... 11
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................... 13
Abbreviations .................................................................................................... 15
List of Figures ................................................................................................... 17
List of Annex ..................................................................................................... 19

I. Research Framework................................................................................ 23
1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 23
2. The Research Problem ................................................................................ 25
3. State of Research ........................................................................................ 26
4. Relevance of the Topic ............................................................................... 28
5. Research Objective and Design .................................................................. 30
6. Scope of the Analysis ................................................................................. 34
7. Thesis Outline ............................................................................................. 36

II. Theoretical Foundation: Governance Theory ........................................ 39
1. Governance Theory ..................................................................................... 39
1.1. Wide Governance Concept: Management of Interdependencies ................ 40
1.2. Narrow Governance Concept: Governance vs. Government ...................... 44
1.3. Normative Governance Concept: “Good Governance” .............................. 51
2. Security Governance ................................................................................... 52
2.1. Particularity of Security Policy ................................................................... 53
2.2. Emergence of Security Governance ............................................................ 54
2.3. The Security Governance Concept ............................................................. 56
3. Governance as the Theoretical Foundation for the Dissertation ................. 60

III. Conceptual Foundation: Security Privatization ..................................... 63
1. Structure of Agency: Power Distribution between state and
non-state Actors .......................................................................................... 63
1.1. Definition of Security Privatization ............................................................ 64
1.2. Historical Account of Security Privatization .............................................. 66
1.3. Privatization Models with varying state – non-state Power Distribution .... 68
2. Mode of Cooperation: Development of Modern Security Privatization ..... 74
2.1. Economic Considerations ........................................................................... 74
8 Contents
2.2. Security Market Demands ........................................................................... 75
2.3. Technological Challenges ........................................................................... 77
3. Structure of Compliance: Privatization Challenges and Compliance
Mechanisms ................................................................................................ 79
3.1. Challenges to the Social Control of the State .............................................. 80
3.2. Challenges to the Political Control of the State .......................................... 82
3.3. Challenges to the Functional Control of the State....................................... 84
4. Security Privatization as the Conceptual Foundation for the Dissertation .. 86

IV. Methodological Foundation: Case Study Approach .............................. 89
1. Selection of the Case Study ........................................................................ 89
1.1. Scope of the Case Study ............................................................................. 90
1.2. Motivation for the Case Study .................................................................... 91
1.3. Selection Bias ............................................................................................. 96
2. Evaluation Method ...................................................................................... 97
3. Data ........................................................................................................... 100
3.1. Personal Experiences ................................................................................ 101
3.2. Documentation .......................................................................................... 103
3.3. Oral Communication ................................................................................. 103
4. The Case Study Approach as the Methodological Foundation for
the Dissertation ......................................................................................... 105

V. Case Study: ISR Services of the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan ............. 107
1. Background: Governance in the Context of German Privatization in
Afghanistan ............................................................................................... 108
1.1. Structure of Agency: Role of Germany’s ISR capabilities for the
ISAF Mission ............................................................................................ 108
1.2. Mode of Cooperation: Security Privatization in the Bundeswehr ............. 120
1.3. Structure of Compliance: Compliance Framework for Governance
Set-ups ...................................................................................................... 127
2. Application of Governance Theory to ISR Services of the
Bundeswehr for ISAF ............................................................................... 129
2.1. Structure of Agency: Role of non-state actors for German
ISR Services in ISAF ................................................................................ 129
2.2. Mode of Cooperation: Development of Privatization of
German ISR Services ................................................................................ 150
2.3. Structure of Compliance: Compliance Mechanisms applied to
ISR Services .............................................................................................. 161
Contents 9
VI. Conclusion and Recommendations ........................................................ 179
1. Summary of the Research Results ............................................................ 179
1.1. Extent of Security Privatization ................................................................ 180
1.2. State Control of Privatization Processes ................................................... 182
1.3. National Interest Preservation ................................................................... 183
2. Outlook on the Future of Security Privatization ....................................... 185
2.1. Economic Considerations ......................................................................... 186
2.2. Security Market Demands ......................................................................... 187
2.3. Technological Challenges ......................................................................... 188
3. Recommendations ..................................................................................... 192
3.1. Practical Recommendations ...................................................................... 192
3.2. Recommendations for further Research .................................................... 195

Bibliography .................................................................................................... 197
Annex ............................................................................................................... 223
Preface
Preface
Preface

Government agencies, including militaries, increasingly draw on the services of
private contractors. This privatization of state functions will most likely continue
– also in regard to military operations. Budgetary constraints and associated
personnel shortages have driven this trend. So has the widely held belief that
private contractors work more efficiently than government bureaucrats. The
complexity of modern, high-technology products with their requirements for
highly specialized skills has also increased the attractiveness of private
contractors. At the same time, increasing reliance on private contractors has
generated concern that the state is about to cede areas of responsibility to the
private sector that potentially undermine the state's own constitutionally
mandated responsibilities including its monopoly on the use of force.
Gloria Westermeyer's analysis of these issues could not come at a better
time. The impact of private actors on security governance has become an
important, often controversial issue. This analysis of the private intelligence,
surveillance reconnaissance (ISR) services provided to the Bundeswehr in
Afghanistan offers important guidance for government agencies working through
the complicated issues of private security services. At the same time,
Westermeyer's analysis makes a significant contribution to the field of security
studies by illuminating the important role of governance. Westermeyer's
employment of governance theory to understand the challenges and possibilities
of security privatization represents a valuable and new addition to the field. As
such, this study also confirms the continued value of well-founded, theory-based,
logically structured analysis of complex security policy issues.
Good governance is essential to the successful privatization of security
roles. Westermeyer has ably identified how governance concepts can help avoid
the problems of privatization including confused lines of command, poor quality
control, and inappropriate contractor behavior in the host nation. She also
confirms that the closer private contractors come to combat, the more important
it is to have the right governance strategy for accountability and responsibility.
This analysis shows why the state must become a better customer by developing
the new skills required to manage and monitor contractor operations.
12 Preface
Westermeyer offers the practitioner valuable guidelines to achieve better
government-contractor relationships.
These guidelines revolve around five general tasks: (1) clarifying the
responsibilities and legal status of all parties, particularly in conflicts where
military opponents are not easily identifiable; (2) preparing clear quality
requirements and contract models potentially involving the official certification
of contractors; (3) maintaining core state capabilities including quality control
and, should the need arise, the capacity to reacquire responsibilities; (4) aligning
the interests and views of military and private partners using institutionalized
dialogue, joint training, the experience of reservists, and perhaps the introduction
of a behavioral codex; and (5) developing state capacity for anticipatory,
professional privatization decisions so as to avoid the time pressure that
confronted numerous ISAF decisions.
While practitioners will find Westermeyer's guidelines useful, academics
will appreciate her recommendations for further research and the possibilities for
employing her methodology to a broader range of threat scenarios, other nations,
and institutional contexts. This study also offers a well-founded analysis of
governance theory, particularly in the study's conceptualization of how this
theory applies to security governance.
Convincing in her methodology, Westermeyer provides a sophisticated
analysis of complex security issues that combines a valuable overview of the
considerable research on this topic with significant new observations relating to
her ISAF case study. Interviews and additional primary research allow this study
to fill important gaps in the literature.
Westermeyer's analysis of the impact of private actors on security
governance provides an exceptionally valuable contribution to the field of
security studies, to the further development and application of governance
theory, and to the practical management of security privatization.
Methodologically compelling, this study's analysis and assessment of the
complex subject matter will contribute significantly to the objectification and
further development of security studies, while also enriching the broader policy
discussions relating to privatization in the security sector.

Professor Dr. Holger H. Mey