Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs.

AuthorHandler, Stephenie Gosnell
PositionBook review

Outsourcing War and Peace. Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs, By Laura A. Dickinson, Yale University Press, 2011. ($40.00).

With over 150,000 private contractors currently working in Iraq and Afghanistan,1 Laura Dickinson's book, Outsourcing War and Peace." Preserving Public Values in a Worm of Privatized Foreign Affairs, makes an important and timely contribution to the literature. The increased reliance on private contractors to perform a diverse range of functions previously carried out by uniformed personnel presents numerous challenges, particularly in combat zones. The recent death of Osama bin Laden, plans to reduce troop numbers in Afghanistan starting in July 2011, and the projected withdrawal of remaining U.S. forces in Iraq by the end of 2011 are likely to significantly impact the execution of American foreign policy abroad. However, they are unlikely to impact America's use of outsourcing to achieve policy objectives. As large-scale military operations are phased out, there may even be increased reliance on private contractors to continue the fight against terrorism in situations where it is not politically or strategically feasible to deploy the U.S. military. Dickinson's book will retain its significance despite current events because the privatization of American foreign affairs will remain entrenched for the predictable future.

The majority of recent books written on private contractors focus primarily on describing the challenges posed by contractors. Dickinson deviates from this model by concentrating on developing a legal, regulatory, and institutional framework to respond to the threat outsourcing poses to public values. Public values are defined to include "the fundamental respect for human dignity.., human rights, human security, and the idea of rule-bound warfare, with its protections for non-combatants and wounded soldiers; public participation in decision making; and transparency and anticorruption." (2) Dickinson argues that the current privatization structure threatens these core values of liberal democracies, and it is imperative that the contractor structure be reformed.

Dickinson's meticulously researched book outlines the U.S. history of outsourcing from the Vietnam War through the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, demonstrating the evolution of outsourcing and the significant impact it has on public values today. From my perspective as a former Marine Corps officer who...

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