ABSTRACT

A prominent anti-mercenary norm entrepreneur in the second half of the twentieth century, the United Nations (UN) has become an equally prominent user of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) services in the twenty-first century. In this article, we explain the gap between UN talk and action on private providers of security as a form of organized hypocrisy. To map the mismatch between UN rhetoric and behaviour in a measurable fashion, we combined official data on the use of PMSCs with an in-depth content analysis of the reports written by the UN Working Group on Mercenaries and an examination of the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) contracting policy. The Working Group’s very negative portrayal of PMSCs and the UNDSS caveat that armed contractors should only be used as a last resort and stands in stark contrast with UN agencies’ widespread use of private security providers. Although a decoupling between talk and action is often inevitable for complex organizations simultaneously pursuing contradictory objectives like the UN, our findings have important implications for peacekeeping. Most notably, organized hypocrisy is in danger of challenging the UN’s credibility as a norm entrepreneur, hindering the effectiveness of its agencies’ outsourcing practices and delaying the reform of UN peacekeeping and crisis management at large.

摘要

作为 20 世纪下半叶著名的反雇佣军规范企业家，联合国 (UN) 在 21 世纪已成为同样重要的私营军事和安保公司 (PMSC) 服务用户。在本文中，我们将联合国关于私营安保提供商的谈话与行动之间的差距解释为一种有组织的虚伪。为了以可衡量的方式描绘联合国的言辞和行为之间的不匹配，我们将使用私营军事和安保公司的官方数据与联合国雇佣军工作组撰写的报告的深入内容分析和联合国安全部的审查结合起来和安全 (UNDSS) 承包政策。工作组对私营军事和安保公司的非常负面的描述和联合国安保部警告说，武装承包商只能作为最后的手段，这与联合国机构广泛使用私营安保提供商形成鲜明对比。尽管对于像联合国这样同时追求相互矛盾的目标的复杂组织而言，谈话与行动之间的脱钩通常是不可避免的，但我们的研究结果对维和行动具有重要意义。最值得注意的是，有组织的虚伪有可能挑战联合国作为规范企业家的信誉，阻碍其机构外包实践的有效性，并推迟联合国维和和危机管理的整体改革。尽管对于像联合国这样同时追求相互矛盾的目标的复杂组织而言，谈话与行动之间的脱钩通常是不可避免的，但我们的研究结果对维和行动具有重要意义。最值得注意的是，有组织的虚伪有可能挑战联合国作为规范企业家的信誉，阻碍其机构外包实践的有效性，并推迟联合国维和和危机管理的整体改革。尽管对于像联合国这样同时追求相互矛盾的目标的复杂组织而言，谈话与行动之间的脱钩通常是不可避免的，但我们的研究结果对维和行动具有重要意义。最值得注意的是，有组织的虚伪有可能挑战联合国作为规范企业家的信誉，阻碍其机构外包实践的有效性，并推迟联合国维和和危机管理的整体改革。