THE ROLE OF PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANIES IN CONTEMPORARY CONFLICTS: LEGAL AND SECURITY DILEMMAS
Journal: Politics & Security
Year: 2025

This article undertakes an examination of the escalating role assumed by Private Military Companies (PMCs) within the matrix of contemporary conflicts, positing that their proliferation—most notably the ascendancy of state-proxy models exemplified by the Wagner Group—constitutes an exploitation of a critical vacuum within the corpus of international law. Effectuated through a comparative analysis of PMC operations across Iraq, Ukraine, Syria, and Africa, this paper demonstrates the mechanisms by