Private Armies

Mercenaries and the Business of Modern War

Omar Al-Masri

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Hardback

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English

Vij Books
30 November 2025

Military history; Warfare & defence; Military intelligence; Military & defence law

A war can be fought without a declaration, a uniform, or a vote. It only needs a contract. This book exposes how hired force moves decisions from parliaments to procurement desks, turning sovereignty into something you can rent and responsibility into something you can evade. If you want to understand today's private military companies, the Wagner headlines, and the legacy of Blackwater, start here.

Across gripping case studies and clear models, you'll see how mercenaries in modern war operate as businesses, how accountability in private security breaks on purpose, and why the laws of war contractors navigate are built with loopholes. You'll follow the money through ""security for resources"" deals, track the rise of drone and cyber mercenaries, and learn how markets manufacture deniable warfare. This is for readers who care about democracy, human rights, and hard policy design as much as frontline stories.

- What governments really buy when they outsource force

- How oversight fails and what a fix with teeth looks like

- Where Wagner Group in Africa fits within a global pattern

- How to recognise a security for resources deals script before it unfolds

By the end, you'll carry a practical lens for spotting marketised violence, a language to interrogate it, and a policy playbook to demand change. If you are searching for regulating PMCs that actually works, this book trades buzzwords for tools and gives you a way to read the next conflict before it hits the news.

By: Omar Al-Masri
Imprint: Vij Books
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 404g
ISBN: 9789390349920
ISBN 10: 9390349923
Pages: 174
Publication Date: 30 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Omar Al-Masri writes at the fault line where money, law, and violence meet. His work probes how states and corporations trade risk between boardrooms and battlefields, and what that bargain does to public life. Drawing on a lifelong interest in the ethics of war and the political economies of the Middle East and Africa, he favours close observation over easy outrage and clear language over grandstanding. He is animated by a simple question with difficult answers: who is responsible when force is rented? Between archival rabbit holes and conversations with practitioners, he keeps returning to the same compass point that once guided medieval jurists and modern reformers alike: power must answer to the people it affects.