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Mercenaries
An African Security Dilemma
Edited by Abdel-Fatau Musah and J. Kayode Fayemi
Pluto Press, 1999
This powerful book critiques mercenary involvement in post-Cold War African conflicts. The contributors investigate the links between the rise in internal conflicts and the proliferation of mercenary activities in the 1990s; the distinction in the methods adopted by Cold War mercenaries and their contemporary counterparts; the convoluted network between private armies; business interests and sustained poverty in Africa’s poorest countries; and the connection between mercenary activities and arms proliferation. Countries discussed include Sierra Leone, Zaire, Angola, Uganda and Congo.
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front cover of Outsourced Empire
Outsourced Empire
How Militias, Mercenaries and Contractors Support US Statecraft
Andrew Thompson
Pluto Press, 2018
The way that imperial power is enacted around the world today has changed, but it has received little attention. Outsourced Empire aims to change that, re-evaluating the history of empire from the Cold War to the present by looking at the influence of para-state actors. A para-state is a region that seeks or claims, but does not officially have, the status of an independent state. From the Guatemalan coup to the Bay of Pigs, from Syrian rebel factions to the Soviet-Afghan War, Andrew Thomson pulls together seemingly disparate events and groups to reveal the ways that para-states have become central to US imperialism, enabling the United States to influence political and economic conditions abroad in secret. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including US training manuals, CIA communiqués, and National Security Agency archives, Thomson reveals the hidden workings of contemporary empire.
 
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