Fortunes for the Bold: An Ecological Perspective on the Emergence of Private Military and Security Companies

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Creator

Bongiovi, Joseph R.
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology

Abstract

The past two decades witnessed the emergence of a new population of organizations, private military and security companies. While there is a large volume of literature on the subject, most has focused on its relationship with state agents, governance structures, role definition, public accountability, the relative effectiveness of state and private actors and how they can best work together. While there are studies of individual organizations there has been little analysis of the entire population organizations. This study helps fill that gap in existing literature. It provides insight into organizational population emergence and industry dynamics using a data set of 1,477 private military and security companies. It contributes to organizational science by extending ecological analysis to an important new industry. It considers the role of independent entrepreneurial action in population emergence. Finally, it adds new and detailed information on this population not previously available.

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