MODERN SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF PRIVATE MILITARY AND SECURITY ACTIVITIES IN CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL PROCESSES

Abstract

The article examines contemporary scientific approaches to the study of private military and security activities in modern international political processes. It is determined that companies engaged in private military and security activities are registered non-governmental commercial structures whose activities are aimed at providing specialized services directly or indirectly related to the military sphere. An analysis of various aspects of the activities of companies engaged in private military and security activities is conducted. Operating within the legal framework, private military and security activities are legal non-governmental actors. This status removes private military and security activities from the control of states, which, in turn, benefit from the activities of such structures, as they provide new tools for solving their own problems. Today, it can be stated that in the 21st century, not only traditional nation states but also new types of actors have come to play a role in virtually every armed conflict at the regional and/or global level. In recent years, their influence on political processes and, as a result, their participation in modern conflicts has grown significantly. At the same time, cooperation between states and «non-sovereign actors» has become an obvious trend in the modern world. Companies engaged in private military and security activities can be classified as non-state actors in international relations. This category is heterogeneous and consists of legitimate and illegitimate entities that vary in nature, means of formation, and the goals to which their activities are subordinated. Some non-state actors are transnational and have a broad, ramified structure; others may be closely linked to state bodies, representing a hybrid state in which it is impossible to draw a line between them; still others are specifically created by the state apparatus to carry out specific tasks. Recently, private military and security activities «have begun to demonstrate both military activity in various regions of the world and characteristics of independent economic actors in the military segment of the global economy». Private military and security activities are gradually and increasingly «beginning to replace regular armies in armed conflicts».