Neoliberalism and Public Sector Reform: Explaining Private Military Contracting in the United States

Abstract

Private Military Security Companies (PMSCs) have become an increasing presence in U.S contingency operations over the last twenty years. There have been more contracted personnel than U.S military participating in the operations in Afghanistan which signifies the growth of a dependency upon the private sector to wage war. Various international and domestic factors have led to the proliferation of defence contracting in America but this thesis explores only the causes of increased defence contracting endogenous to the state. It argues that public sector reforms as a constructive neoliberal state project during the Clinton and Bush administrations rolled back the state bureaucracy including the Department of Defence. The reduced federal workforce, managerial reform and de-regulation of government which took place during successive reform efforts resulted in the unintentional dependency on PMSCs for operational support in Iraq and Afghanistan.