 Markets, Men, and Mercenaries Private Security through the Lens of Gender, Race, and Global Political Economy Dr. Amanda Chisholm (Newcastle University) Dr. Saskia Stachowitsch (University of Vienna)

Private Security in Popular Culture

A Global Business

Popular Imaginings of Security Contractors White Western Male Heterosexual Hi-Tech Weaponry Violent Professional

Media Scandals: Contractor Violence and Gender-based Exploitation

Self-Representations of the Industry

Private Security is also about…  Unarmed security at shopping centers and special events  Personal Protection  Airport Security  Insurance and Risk  Consultancy and Training  Policy Advisory

The Austrian Case

Academic Inquiries  Historical perspectives  Regulation, accountability  Implications for democracy and policy  State erosion (or not?)  Critical approaches (Anna Leander)

Gender and Private Security Masculinity Studies Feminist International Relations Feminist Security Studies Feminist State Theories Postcolonial Theory Critical Military Studies

Political Economies of Private Security  Security as Labour:  Feminist Global Political Economy (GPE)  Global military labour chains/labour migration  Gendered and racialised divisions of labour  The invisible labour  The everyday as constitutive of global security markets

Martial Race and Private Security Rooted in colonial encounters Biology as race Construction of the ideal military colonial solider Altered local political economies Continue to be preferred global South security contractors

Gurkhas in Private Security 200 years military service with the British Constructed through colonial martial race logic Racial heritage mediates the kinds of work they do

Gurkha Wives Integral to the military/security labour chains Militarised families

Militarising Women’s Labour The supportive wivesThe grieving wives

Conclusions PMSCs are profoundly shaping security governance PMSCs are reconstructing global labour relations The security market reproduces gendered and racialised inequalities These security practices are constituted through the everyday

Routledge Handbook of Private Security Studies (ed. R. Abrahamsen, A. Leander) Gender and Private Security in Global Politics (ed. M. Eichler) newcastle.academia.edu/ AmandaChisholm homepage.univie.ac.at/ saskia. stachowitsch Further Reading