Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry

By P.W. Singer

More than 20,000 private soldiers serve in Iraq, including at Fallujah and Abu Ghraib; from the Balkans to Central Asia, corporations now run the supply chain of US forces; an army for hire takes on rebel forces in West Africa, with diamond mines as the prize. In this book, P.W. Singer provides the first account of the military services industry and its broader implications, replete with case studies of such firms as Halliburton and Executive Outcomes.

The privatization of warfare allows startling new capabilities and efficiencies in the ways that war is carried out. At the same time, however, the entrance of the profit motive onto the battlefield raises a series of troubling questions–for democracy, for ethics, for law, for human rights, and for national security.

Awards & Recognition

  • Named Top Five Book of the Year in International Affairs by the Gelber Prize
  • Named Top Ten Summer Read by Businessweek
  • Winner of the 2004 Edward Said Book Award
  • Winner of the 2004 best policy book of the year by the American Political Science Association

Reviews

Top Ten Summer Read….A thoughtful, engaging critique of the U.S. government's growing dependence on private companies to wage war.

— Business Week

Prescient, cogent, and lavishly researched.

— New York Review of Books

Many fine volumes about U.S. foreign policy and world events have been published in recent months. This one is something special. Corporate Warriors might just be a paradigm shift. It may change the way people look at history and analyze current events…a must-read…

— Sunday Gazette

Where to Buy

  • Amazon