12,972 research outputs found

    Unchecked: How Wal-Mart Uses its Might to Block Port Security

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    [Excerpt] In spite of the vulnerability of our ports and of supply networks around the world, Wal-Mart and RILA have—time and again since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001—opposed new maritime and port security rules. Their mantra is: “Security requirements should not become a barrier to trade.” The AFL-CIO’s unions represent millions of port, transportation and emergency workers including first responders, whose lives are on the line in the event of a catastrophic attack on America‘s ports. This report details the ways in which Wal-Mart’s lobbyists and allies have quietly and insistently made these workers and all Americans less safe

    The United States, PMSCs and the state monopoly on violence: Leading the way towards norm change

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    This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2013 Sage.The proliferation of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in Iraq and Afghanistan has raised many questions regarding the use of armed force by private contractors. This article addresses the question of whether the increased acceptance of PMSCs indicates a transformation of the international norm regarding the state monopoly on the legitimate use of armed force. Drawing on theoretical approaches to the analysis of norm change, the article employs four measures to investigate possible changes in the strength and meaning of this norm: modifications in state behaviour, state responses to norm violation, the promulgation of varying interpretations of the norm in national and international laws and regulations, and changes in norm discourse. Based on an analysis of empirical evidence from the United States of America and its allies, the article concludes that these measures suggest that the USA is leading the way towards a transformation of the international norm of the state monopoly on violence, involving a revised meaning. Although this understanding has not yet been formally implemented in international law, it has allowed a growing number of countries to tolerate, accept or legalize the use of armed force by PMSCs in the international arena.The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt
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