E-LOGOS 2022, 29(2):4-22 | DOI: 10.18267/j.e-logos.492

Private militaries: Mercenaries, or fighters of a just war?

Tom Křížek
Prague University of Economics and Business

Práce se zabývá problematikou privátních armád formou případové studie americké soukromé vojenské společnosti Blackwater a ruské soukromé vojenské společnosti Wagner Group. U obou společností jsou pokryty jejich vznik, operace a dopady činnosti. Cíle práce jsou: zhodnotit nasazení obou vojenských společností; zjistit, zda se jedná o efektivní nástroje státní moci; porovnat působení těchto organizací z hlediska loajality a morálky jejích příslušníků s Machiavelliho poznatky o válce; s ohledem na teorii spravedlivé války určit, jestli příslušníci těchto organizací lze identifikovat spíše jako žoldáky bojující pro vlastní obohacení, nebo bojovníky spravedlivé války.

Keywords: Soukromá vojenská společnost; Blackwater; Wagner Group; Niccolò Machiavelli; Spravedlivá válka

The thesis deals with the issue of private armies in the form of a case study of the American private military company Blackwater and the Russian private military company Wagner Group. For both companies, their formation, operations and impacts are covered. The objectives of the work are: to evaluate the deployment of both military companies; to find out whether they are effective instruments of state power; to compare the operation of these organizations in terms of loyalty and morale of their members with Machiavelli's knowledge about war; with regard to the just war theory, to determine whether the members of these organizations can be identified rather as mercenaries fighting for their own enrichment, or fighters of a just war.

Keywords: Private military company; Blackwater; Wagner Group; Niccolò Machiavelli; Just war

Received: August 26, 2022; Revised: August 26, 2022; Accepted: January 13, 2023; Published: January 13, 2023  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Křížek, T. (2022). Private militaries: Mercenaries, or fighters of a just war? E-LOGOS, 29(2), 4-22. doi: 10.18267/j.e-logos.492
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Contamine, Philippe.Válka ve středověku. Translated by Josef Hajný. Praha: Argo, 2004.
    2. Dugin, Alexandr. Eurasian Mission: An Introduction to Neo-Eurasianism. Budapest: Arktos, 2014.
    3. Eltchaninoff, Michel. Inside the Mind of Vladmir Putin. London: Oxford University Press, 2018.
    4. Garland, Yvon. La guerre dans l'Antiquité. Paris: Nathan Université, 1972.
    5. Inernational Comittee of the Red Cross. Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, Geneve: Article 47, p. 35. https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/icrc_002_0321.pdf.
    6. Kimberly, Marten. "Russia's use of semi-state security forces: the case of the Wagner Group", Post-Soviet Affairs (2019), 35:3, 181-204, https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2019.1591142. Go to original source...
    7. Machiavelli, Niccolò. Úvahy o vládnutí a o vojenství. Translated by Josef Hajný. Praha: Argo, 2001.
    8. Machiavelli, Niccolò. Vladař. Translated by Jiří Žák. Praha: XYZ, 2021.
    9. Mcfate, Sean. The modern mercenary: private armies and what they mean for world order. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
    10. Scahill, Jeremy. Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army Revised and Updated. New York: Bold Type Books, 2008.
    11. "House Passes Bill That Would Hike Penalties for U.S. Security Contractors in Iraq." Fox News. January 13, 2015. https://www.foxnews.com/story/house-passes-bill-that-would-hike-penalties-for-u-s-security-contractors-in-iraq.
    12. "Nigeria drops arms charges against 8 Russians." Fox News, December 12, 2015. https://www.foxnews.com/world/nigeria-drops-arms-charges-against-8-russians.
    13. "Дугин хочет с помощью Путина прояснить свой статус в МГУ." BBC News Russian Service, June 30, 2014. https://www.bbc.com/russian/russia/2014/06/140630_dugin_msu_university_dismissal.
    14. "Cекретные армии Кремля." Belprauda, January 19, 2018. https://belprauda.com/sekretnye-armii-kremlya.
    15. Andriukaitis, Lukas. "Putin At War: Prigožin Meets Libyan Military Officials." DFRLab - Medium, November 24, 2018. https://medium.com/dfrlab/putinatwar-Prigožin-meets-libyan-military-officials-608ca4f2b98e.
    16. Barabanov, Ilya and Ibrahim, Nader. "Wagner: Scale of Russian mercenary mission in Libya exposed." BBC, August 11, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58009514.
    17. Bouessel Charles and Sari Emre. "Pourquoi Vladimir Poutine avance ses pions en Centrafrique." L'Obs, May 4, 2018. https://www.nouvelobs.com/monde/20180504.OBS6191/pourquoi-vladimir-poutine-avance-ses-pions-en-centrafrique.html.
    18. Budraitskis, Ilja. "Zrození a smrt "ruského světa": dějiny konceptu." A2larm, July 14, 2022. https://a2larm.cz/022/07/zrozeni-a-smrt-ruskeho-sveta-dejiny-konceptu/.
    19. Committee On Oversight And Government Reform, Activities Of The Committee On Oversight And Government Reform One Hundred Tenth Congress First And Second Sessions 2007-2008, Henry A. Waxman, H.; Towns, E. et. al, Report 110-930, Washington, D.C.: House of Representives, 2007. Union Calendar. https://www.congress.gov/110/crpt/hrpt930/CRPT-110hrpt930.pdf.
    20. Committee On Oversight And Government Reform, Memorandum October 1, 2007 Re: Additional Information about Blackwater USA, Henry A. Waxman, T. Lantos, H. Towns, E. et. al., Washington, D.C.: Congress of the United States, 2007. https://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20071001121609.pdf.
    21. Coynash, Hayla."Russians admit to killing for money - Ukrainians or Syrians, as Russia demands." Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 18, 2017. https://khpg.org/en/1503934771.
    22. Güncelleme Tarihi."Iraq police evidence shows Blackwater guards fired unprovoked." World Bulletin, March 1, 2007. https://worldbulletin.dunyabulteni.net/archive/iraq-police-evidence-shows-blackwater-guards-fired-unprovoked-h11393.html.
    23. Harding, Luke." 'Mercenaries have skills armies lack': former Wagner operative opens up". The Guardian, February 10, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/10/marat-gabidullin-russian-mercenary-wagner
    24. Horvath, Robert. "Beware the rise of Russia's new imperialism." August 21, 2008. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/beware-the-rise-of-russias-new-imperialism-20080820-3yw6.html?page=-1.
    25. Iqbal, Nosheen and Sauer, Pjotr. "The Wagner Group's shadow mission in Ukraine." The Guardian, March 15, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2022/mar/15/the-wagner-group-shadow-mission-ukraine-podcast.
    26. Korotkov, Denis. "What losses PMC Wagner suffered in Syria." Rusletter, August 22, 2017. http://rusletter.com/articles/what_losses_pmc_wagner_suffered_in_syria.
    27. Korotkov, Denis. "За Башара Асада - без флага, без Роди." Fontanka, October 22, 2015. https://www.fontanka.ru/2015/10/22/144/.
    28. Korotkov, Denis. "Они сражались за Пальмиру." Fontanka, March 29, 2016. https://www.fontanka.ru/2016/03/28/171/.
    29. Lockie, Alex. "A massive battle between US and Syrian pro-regime forces reportedly killed more than 200 Russians." Insider, January 13, 2018. https://www.businessinsider.com/us-strikes-in-syria-reportedly-killed-russian-military-contractors-2018-2.
    30. Nakashima Ellen, DeYoung Karen and Sly Liz. "Putin ally said to be in touch with Kremlin, Assad before his mercenaries attacked U.S. troops." The Washington Post, February 22, 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/putin-ally-said-to-be-in-touch-with-kremlin-assad-before-his-mercenaries-attacked-us-troops/2018/02/22/f4ef050c-1781-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html.
    31. Putin, Vladimir. "Address by the President of the Russian Federation." Speech, Moscow, February 21, 2022. Official Internet Resources of President of Russia. http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67828/videos.
    32. Putin, Vladimir. "Address by the President of the Russian Federation." Speech, Moscow, February 24, 2022. Official Internet Resources of President of Russia. http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843.
    33. Putin, Vladimir. "Putin: if West want to beat us on the battlefield, let them try." Speech, Moscow, July 7, 2022. Global News. https://youtu.be/QE25i5k5eWs.
    34. Rana, Manveen. "Volodymyr Zelensky: Russian mercenaries ordered to kill Ukraine's president." The Times, February 28, 2022. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/volodymyr-zelensky-russian-mercenaries-ordered-to-kill-ukraine-president-cvcksh79d.
    35. Saad Abedine."Joint Iraqi-U.S. review begins in wake of Blackwater firefight." CNN, October 7, 2007. https://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/10/07/iraq.main/.
    36. Schreck, Carl. "What Are Russian Military Contractors Doing In The Central African Republic?" RFE/RL, August 1, 2018. https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer-what-russian-military-contractors-are-doing-in-central-african-republic/29405290.html.
    37. Torgasheva, Julia. "и золото Cудана." Medium, March 10, 2018. https://medium.com/@genline31626/суданская-золотая-лихорадка-дошла-до-россии-6e76b3b643f8.
    38. Zoria, Yuri."New footage shows Russian PMC Wagner involved in crucial 2015 Debaltseve battle in Ukraine." Euromaidan Press, June 22, 2018. http://euromaidanpress.com/2018/06/22/new-footage-shows-russian-pmc-wagner-involved-in-crucial-2015-debaltseve-battle-in-ukraine/.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content