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 There were mercenaries on the battlefields of Europe long
before the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, when it was agreed that
military force was the preserve of governments.
And now, says McFate, a former soldier who teaches at Georgetown
University in Washington, the mercenaries are back, in strength,
and are not going away.
Private military contractors, or PMCs, are flourishing again
because they cost less than standing armies and their presence
in a war zone is less politically sensitive than large numbers
of regular soldiers.
McFate says we are seeing a return to the type of warfare seen
in the Middle Ages, when mercenary bands roamed northern Italy
and elsewhere. As the global political landscape fragments, we
are reverting to a free market for military force.
"The implications of this are enormous," McFate says, "since it
suggests that international relations in the 21st century will
have more in common with the 12th century than with the 20th."
McFate answered questions from Reuters about why he wrote about
mercenaries and what they are like.
Q: Why did you choose this topic?
A: I am a former U.S. Army paratrooper who became a
private military contractor in Africa. Much has been written
about this secretive industry, much of it wrong. As an industry
insider, I wanted to write a book that would inform rather than
provoke, and look beyond Iraq and Afghanistan. Today a global
market for force is emerging, but what does it mean when you
have an industry vested in conflict going to the most
conflict-prone areas in the world? This question haunts me.
Q: Is the growing use of mercenaries a cause for alarm?
A: Private militaries have the power to reshape
international relations. If anyone with wealth can wage war for
any reason they like, then rich people and corporations can
become new superpowers. Worse, linking profit motive to killing
incentivises mercenaries to start and elongate wars for money,
and prey on the weak when unemployed. A world with mercenaries
will mean more war, as we saw in the Middle Ages, when they were
common and everyone, kings, cities, rich families, popes, hired
private armies. This will change how and why we fight, and will
foster what I call "Durable Disorder": a world order that
contains rather than solves problems.
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Q: How have mercenaries changed since the Middle Ages?
A: Private military companies like Blackwater are not
mercenaries but "military enterprisers": companies that augment
national armies in a public-private partnership with a government
client. Historical examples include Wallenstein from the Thirty
Years War. By contrast, mercenary firms like Executive Outcomes
independently wage wars. PMCs can easily become mercenaries and vice
versa, depending on the client. Until recently, PMCs have been
dominant but now mercenaries are appearing in Nigeria, Ukraine,
Somalia and elsewhere.
Q: Is there any mercenary figure you find particularly
interesting?
A: Sir John Hawkwood was an English mercenary, or condottiere
(contractor in old Italian), in the 14th century, and led the White
Company. Contrary to the later invectives of Machiavelli against
mercenaries, Hawkwood served Florence loyally, and they even honored
him with a monument in the cathedral. He also served as England's
ambassador to the Roman court, and joined Chaucer and Petrarch at a
wedding feast for King Edward III's son.
(Reporting by Giles Elgood; Editing by Michael Roddy.
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