Outsourcing war and peace : preserving public values in a world of privatized foreign affairs / Laura A. Dickinson.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-259) and index.

Key moments in U.S. military and security outsourcing, from Vietnam to Iraq -- Too many gaps? : catching private contractors in the web of litigation -- The unexplored promise of contract -- Public participation/private contract -- Uniformed military lawyers, organizational structure and culture, and the impact of privatization.

Over the past decade, states and international organizations have shifted a surprising range of foreign policy functions to private contractors. But who is accountable when the employees of foreign private firms do violence or create harm? This book describes the services that are now delivered by private contractors and the threat this trend poses to core public values of human rights, democratic accountability, and transparency. The author offers a series of concrete reforms that are necessary to expand traditional legal accountability, construct better mechanisms of public participation, and alter the organizational structure and institutional culture of contractor firms. The result is a pragmatic, nuanced, and comprehensive set of responses to the problem of foreign affairs privatization.