NATO and Private Military Contractors : Different approaches, and challenges to internal cohesion and solidarity

Abstract

Different policy standards among NATO-members are only sparsely communicated in the broader research literature focusing on the alliance. Both in terms of the purely empirical aspect concerning how many and what kind, and to what extent different policy standards can have an impact on NATO’s role in international relations. The objective of this thesis is to uncover some of these circumstances. Based on a comparative analysis of four NATO-members – the US, the UK, Germany and Norway – three diverging patterns in regard to use of private military contractors are exposed. The results are thereafter discussed in regard to the contemporary NATO-debate concerning NATO’s role in international relations. If left unanswered, the different approaches towards the use of private military contractors have the potential of negatively influencing internal cohesion and solidarity.