Abstract
Among the more prominent PMCs currently engaged in Iraq is Blackwater USA.1 It claims to be “the most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company in the world.”2 Blackwater USA comprises five companies:
Blackwater Training Center, Blackwater Target Systems, Blackwater Security Consulting, Blackwater Canine, and Blackwater Air (AWS).3 Blackwater states: Our clients include federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defence, Department of State, and Department of Transportation, local and state entities from around the country, multi-national corporations, and friendly nations from all over the globe. We customize and execute solutions for our clients to help keep them at the level of readiness required to meet today’s law enforcement, homeland security, and defence challenges. Any and all defence services supplied to foreign nationals will only be pursuant to proper authorization by the Department of State.4
It notes elsewhere that “in addition, certain defence services or products provided to foreign nationals or supplied overseas may be subject to U.S. rules and regulations requiring licensing and authorization by the U.S. Government.”5 As to the extent of its facilities, it boasts, “over 6000 acres of private land, we have trained and hosted over 50,000 Law Enforcement, Military and civilian personnel.”6 In line with corporate profit-making objectives, Blackwater has hired former commandos from the Pinochet regime who can be paid a (relatively) paltry $4,000 per month.7
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
If one accepts M. Jensen’s view of the corporation. M. C. Jensen, “Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function,” European Financial Management Review, 7 (2001), 297.
See, for example, P. Agee, CIA Diary: Inside the Company (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1975).
J. G. Hill, “Public Beginnings-Private Ends-Should Corporate Law Privilege the Interests of Shareholders?,” International Corporate Law, 9 (2000), 21.
R. P. Austin and I. M. Ramsay, Ford’s Principles of Corporations Law, 13 (Australia: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2005), p. 32. Bold added.
See discussion in R. Grantham, “The Doctrinal Basis of the Rights of Company Shareholders,” Cambridge Law Journal, 57 (1998) 554–8, pp. 557–8.
See D. J. H. Greenwood, “Introduction to the Metaphors of Corporate Law,” Seattle Journal of Social Justice, 4 (2006), 18, pp. 9–12.
See also, B. Sheehy, “Scrooge-The Reluctant Stakeholder: Theoretical Problems in The Shareholder Stakeholder Debate,” University of Miami Business Law Review, 14 (2005), pp. 193–241, ibid.
W. Bratton, “The ‘Nexus of Contracts’ Corporation: A Critical Appraisal,” Cornell Law Review, 74 (1989a), 412–452, pp. 433–4.
W. Laufer, Corporate Bodies and Guilty Minds: The Failure of Corporate Criminal Liability (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), pp. 48–51.
A. Alchian and H. Demsetz, “Productions, Information Costs, and Economic Organization,” American Economic Review, 62 (1972), 777, pp. 10–11.
F. H. Easterbrook and D. R. Fischel, The Economic Structure of Corporate Law (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991).
S. Bottomley, “From Contractualism to Constitutionalism: A New Framework for Corporate Governance,” Sydney Law Review, 19 (1997), 277–313.
B. Sheehy, “Corporations And Social Costs: The Wal-Mart Case Study,” Journal of Law & Commerce, 24 (2004), pp. 1–55.
L. E. Mitchell (ed.), Progressive Corporate Law (vol. 7) (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995).
Promising work although still developing, and which has attracted considerable attention is M. Blair and L. Stout, “A Team Production Theory of Corporate Law,” Virginia Law Review, 85 (1999), 247.
L. Cata Backer, Comparative Corporate Law: United States, European Union, China and Japan (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2002), pp. 1129–304 argues for these two but adds a “duty of disclosure.” This latter duty is not well recognized outside of the USA.
For the Australian and New Zealand position, see J. Farrar, Corporate Governance: Theories, Principles, and Practice, 2nd edn (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 103–6.
M. Eisenberg, “Corporate Law and Social Norms,” Columbia Law Review, 99 (1999), 1253, pp. 1265–78, in L. Cata Backer, Comparative Corporate Law, pp. 1130–9.
R. Grantham, The Limited Liability Of Company Directors (Research Paper No. 07–03) (Brisbane: The University of Queensland, 2007).
R. Grantham, “The Doctrinal Basis of the Rights of Company Shareholders,” R. Grantham, “Attributing Responsibility to Corporate Entities: A Doctrinal Approach,” Company and Securities Law Journal, 19 (2001), pp. 168–180.
See discussion in B. Sheehy, “Shareholders, Unicorns and Stilts: An Analysis of Shareholder Property Rights,” Journal of Corporate Law Studies, 6 (2006), pp. 165–212.
R. Tomasic, S. Bottomley and R. McQueen, Corporations Law in Australia (Canberra: The Federation Press, 2002), pp. 44–5, L. Cata Backer, Comparative Corporate Law, pp. 1064–77.
These activities were not limited to corporations, but often were partnerships and trusts. This issue concerning the involvement of the corporate entity in misdeeds is illuminatingly discussed in D. Litowitz, “Are Corporations Evil?,” University of Miami Law Review, 58 (2004), 811.
Some aspects of other vehicles are discussed in F. O. Stover and S. P. Hamill, “The LLC Versus LLP Conundrum: Advice for Businesses Contemplating the Choice,” Alabama Law Review, 50 (1999), 813–847.
At least in the Australian context. For empirical evidence, see I. Ramsay and D. Noakes, “Piercing the Corporate Veil in Australia,” Company and Securities Law Journal, 19 (2001), 250.
See, for example, the discussion of the history of corporate occupational safety laws in the USA in H. Zinn, The Twentieth Centuiy: A People’s History, 1 (New York: Harper Perennial, 2003), pp. 38–39.
A. Belcher, “Corporate Killing as a Corporate Governance Issue,” Corporate Governance An International Review, 10 (2002), 47–54.
See the discussion in N. Foster, “Personal Liability of Company Officers for Corporate Occupational Health and Safety Breaches: Section 26 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 (NSW),” Australian Journal of Labour Law, 18 (2005), pp. 107–135.
J. Kwok, “Armed Entrepreneurs: Private Military Companies in Iraq,” Soviet Legacies, 28 (2006), pp. 12–18.
For one approach to the problem, see S. Chesterman, “The Corporate Veil, Crime and Punishment: R v Denbo Pty Ltd and Timothy Ian Nadenboush,” Melbourne University Law Review, 19 (1994), 1064–1073.
See discussion in M. Olthoff, ‘Beyond the form-should the Corporate Veil be Pierced?,’ UMKC L. Rev, 64 (1995), 311.
M. Ezzati and A. Lopez, “Estimates of global mortality attributable to smoking in 2000,” The Lancet, 362 (2003), pp. 847–852.
M. S. Givel and S. A. Glantz, “Tobacco lobby political influence on US state legislatures in the 1990s,” Tobacco Control, 10 (2001), 124–134.
J. Maogoto and B. Sheehy, “Torturing the Rule of Law: USA and the Post 9–11 World,” St. John’s Journal of Legal Commentary, 21 (2007), pp. 689–725.
N. C. Seddon and M. P. Ellinghaus, Cheshire and Fifoot’s Law of Contract, 8th edn (Chatswood, NSW: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2002), 18.1, p. 839.
W. Bratton, “The Nexus of Contracts Theory of the Firm: A Critical Examination,” Cornell Law Review, 74 (1989b), 407.
Ibid., and J. Richter, Holding Corporations Accountable (London and New York: Zed Books, 2001); J. Dine, The Governance of Corporate Groups.
Discussed in W. Laufer, Corporate Bodies and Guilty Minds. See also the background section to the 1996 Report of the Defence Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct http://www.itcilo.it/english/actrav/telearn/global/ilo/guide/defence. htm#Background%20of%20the%20Defense%20lndustry%20Initiative. R. Weber, Swords into Dow Shares: Governing the Decline of the Military-Industrial Complex (Boulder, CO: Perseus, 2001).
Sommer, “Whom should the corporation serve? The Berle-Dodd Debate revisited sixty years later,” Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, 16 (1991), 33.
C. A. H. Wells, “The Cycles of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Historical Retrospective for the Twenty-first Century,” Kansas Law Review, 51 (2002), 77.
A. A. Berle and G. C. Means, The Modern Corporation and Private Property (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968).
P. Zumbansen, and D. Saam. “The ECJ, Volkswagen and European Corporate Law: Reshaping the European Varieties of Capitalism,” German Law Journal 8 (2007), 11.
B. Garratt, The Fish Rots from the Head: The Crisis in Our Boardrooms-Developing the Crucial Skills of the Competent Director (London: Profile Books, 2003), p. 3
N. Kendall and A. Kendall, Real World Corporate Governance: A Programme for Profit-enhancing Stewardship (London, United Kingdom: Pitman Publishing Corp., 1998), pp. 9–10.
See also discussion in J. du Plessis, J. McConvill and M. Bagaric, Principles of Contemporary Corporate Governance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
C. Rodriguez-Gavarito, “Nike’s Law: The Anti-Sweatshop Movement, Transnational Corporations, and the Struggle Over International Labor Rights in the Americas,” in Santos and Rodriguez-Gavarito (eds.), Law and Globalization from Below (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
See Singer’s classification, P. W. Singer and J. M. Olin, “Corporate Warriors: The Rise and Ramifications of the Privatized Military Industry,” International Security, 26 (2001/2002), 16–19.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2009 Benedict Sheehy, Jackson Maogoto, and Virginia Newell
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sheehy, B., Maogoto, J., Newell, V. (2009). The Corporate Form and the Private Military Corporation. In: Legal Control of the Private Military Corporation. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230583016_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230583016_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-35706-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-58301-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)