Spurred by the apparent return of mercenary activities in Africa at the end of the Cold War, and given further impetus and urgency by the substantial involvement of private military contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq, the privatization of security has become one of the most controversial issues in contemporary international politics. Once obscure companies such as Blackwater, Triple Canopy and Erinys have joined with tales of ‘neo-mercenaries’ such as EO in Sierra Leone and Simon Mann’s attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea to become the focus of widespread journalistic coverage, popular books, TV dramas, Hollywood films and increasingly sophisticated scholarly analysis.

Yet the privatization of security and its consequences go well beyond the activities of mercenaries and the corporate military. Away from the battlefields, in the day-to-day activities of ordinary life, private security has also become ubiquitous. Less spectacular than the ‘return of the dogs of war’, commercial private security activities, ranging from manned guarding and alarm installation to risk analysis and surveillance, have expanded at a phenomenal rate. Worldwide, the commercial private security market is valued at over $139 billion, and its growth is forecast to continue at an annual rate of 8 per cent to reach a value of $230 billion in 2015. Indeed, what was once described by two prominent criminologists as a ‘quiet revolution’ in security provision has become global in scope.