O padrão de atuação das empresas de segurança privada: o caso de Angola

Abstract

Nowadays, one of the phenomena that draws attention and raises the debate within the discipline of international relations is the rise of the so-called private security companies. The present dissertation studies the inclusion of such companies in the Angolan context during the 1990s. This inclusion is marked by two moments, the first one paradigmatic for the literature on the subject, the particular action of the company Executive Outcomes. Secondly, we discuss the development of a local market for private security, built by a series of devices that make the Angolan landscape a unique and poorly studied model. Angola was a testing ground for the actions of the private security companies, but turned out to be an exceptional case with a number of local companies providing security for the country during its own internal conflict, and making them fundamental for the design of Power in Angola. This situation is derived from a number of specific features of the Angolan history, especially the continued violence and the perpetuation of state fragility. We further explore the discussion on the role of private security companies as new actors in the international system, and observe the range of findings about these companies when confronted with the case of Angola