Essay: Private Military Contractors In UAE - A Case Study.

The assignment is going to be focused on the use of private military contractors in UAE in specific. i will upload the layout of the paper. please address all segments of the paper. please stick to the use of academic articles only and not books. you can also use valid news articles as well as wikileaks. 

• United Arab Emirates Security Strategy: (Important)

• Private Military Contractors (definition):

• Private military contractors and the region (gulf region in general):

• UAE and private military contractors: (IMportant)

• UAE and the Yemen War:

United Arab Emirates Security Strategy

This assignment reflects on the use of private military contractors in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is observed that private military contractors (PMC) are soldiers, who work for private military organisations. The notion behind the growing demand for PMC in modern days is to strengthen the battalion in a specific war or emergency. Besides this, PMCs also need to perform multiple tasks like repairing and maintenance of equipment and much more. Hence, some critics have identified PMCs as the ‘mercenaries’ and ‘war dogs’. However, maintaining a large number of PMCs might create political instability in the international level. In this assignment, the security strategy of UAE has been discussed in detail to understand the importance of PMCs in UAE. Besides, an extensive investigation of the private military contractors in the UAE region is performed, followed by a critical discussion on the UAE and the Yemen War.

The territorial and demographic boundaries of this country are small, whereas per capita income of this country also reflects on the prosperity of this country. Hence, the availability of substantial natural resources has imposed a significant threat to the national security of this country. To combat with such a volatile situation, UAE has developed a proactive strategy to secure its natural resources and wealth. It is identified that active collaboration with key regional and international allies ensured the security of this country. According to Kruck (115), crafting an appropriate national strategy requires an integrated approach from the Government of any state. Hence, it is reported that UAE has nurtured the culture of society and also ensured a better involvement of women in leadership roles. The original notion behind developing an open culture is to provide the national strategy of this country. It is identified that economic and social development are two significant factors to strengthen the national security of any nation.

Furthermore, it is also identified that UAE was able to develop a technologically developed military, potent special forces and much more. In addition, the participation of UAE in the Gulf Cooperation Council can also be considered as another important strategy for this organisation. Furthermore, it is also important to state that geographical contiguity, linguistic and cultural affinities are prime considerations behind the formation of The Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981. In this context, Chisholm (30), opined that shared economic, political and security interests are primary factors that have been considered during the development of a national strategy of UAE.

As stated earlier, PMCs are hired by the Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) to be deployed in the areas of conflicts and war zones. Hence, it is essential to investigate the PMSCs to assess the significance of PMCs in detail. According to Noll and Stephen (54), in recent times Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states are taking helps from Private Military Contractors to secure the high conflict areas. In this context, it can be said that the privatisation of security has been considered as the significant agenda behind the successful development of Private Military Contractors. Henceforth, the paradigm of private military organisations effectively justifies the concept of the commodity. It is observed that the PMSCs provide military support to countries as a commodity, which is directly and indirectly linked to modern-day warfare. The present literature on the study of PMC has identified different possibilities that can be occurred from the deployment of private military contractors in critical circumstances. As defined by Salisbury (78), deploying PMCs in critical condition might unstable the political scenario of the country. It is recognised that Private Military Contractors are unable to judge the proposed consequences of their action, which might affect the international relation of any state.  

Private Military Contractors

On another hand, Higate (138) identified the issues in the PMCs in any conditions. The work further explains that racialised masculinity is another concern for the Government of any country to counter appropriately. It is mentioned that the concept of masculinities can be cited in the PMCs of any organisation. Examples have been drawn by considering the case of Ghurkha regiment in India. It is identified that female PMCs are often facing issues with gender discrimination, which might affect the work operation of PMCs in critical condition. Shah (2559) recognised that due to racial and gender discrimination amongst private military contractors, no effective collaboration between the male and female members of the team could be considered. In this context, it is essential to state that private military contractors are useful components to strengthen the national security of any nation, but it might create national issues for countries, who take help from Private Military Contractors.

The urge for employing the PMCs in the Gulf region can be interpreted by considering multiple elements. It is identified that the involvement of Iran in the security breach of the Gulf region has ensured a significant demand for PMCs in the various areas across the Gulf. Hence, the conflict between the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) with the Daish has created significant ultimatum of PMCs in this region. According to ten Dam (18), Iran has invested in the technology, capabilities and military support to fight against the terrorist organisation Daish. In this context, Anyimadu (79) identified that due to the problem of Daish in Iran, the internal security issue of this country is also get unnerved. As defined by Cusumano (241) these domestic issues of Iran have also forced other countries in the Gulf region to ensure their security with the maximum deployment of the PMCs. Besides this, the regional Shia influence has also been identified as another reason behind taking help from PMCs.

 Besides this, energy market re-entry has been considered as another primary reason behind the employment of PMCs in the Gulf region. It is addressed that Iran has been recognised as one of the major crude oil providers in the Gulf region. Hence, a recent report published by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has implied that the availability of such massive resources has created problems for this country. Besides Iran, other Gulf countries also face the same issues, which have allowed the private security companies to spread their business in these areas. A recent news report has identified that Russian security contractors are also expanding their business in the Gulf region, competing with the USA.

Unlike other countries in the Gulf region, UAE has developed its relationship with PMSCs for different reasons. According to Baum and Anita (34), Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, 9/11 and the Arab spring are three significant factors that forced UAE to develop a better military force by collaborating with other private military organisations. In addition, Kinsey (185) also identified that the threat of Al-Qaeda has also forced UAE to build a relationship with private military contractors. However, Moore (24) observed that the incident of the 9/11 terrorist attack has also created significant problems for this country. The impact of 9/11 terrorist attack has effectively violated the diplomatic corps of the United Arab Emirates in the international level. Although, scholars have proposed criticisms. According to Cox (5), military deployment of the UAE is kept secret by the country, which might negate the proposition of a productive relationship with other countries.

Private Military Contractors and the Region

Furthermore, some school of scholars have argued this comment as Li (49) identified that the current scenario of the UAE requires this information about to be kept in secret. Although, it can be interpreted that military contractors of the UAE need to be appropriately positioned from the democratic perspective. As a result, a report has praised the skills of Emirati combat forces. It is identified that approximately 4500 personnel are employed to secure the national strategy of this country. Furthermore, it is also important to state that the availability of a large number of security personnel does not justify UAE's persuasion top take help from Private Military contractors.

The war between UAE and Yemen has initiated during the mid of the year 2015. It is identified that the UAE and Yemen war has started to stop the Houthi movement in this country. In this context, Salisbury (11) determined that two major Arab countries supported the conflicting thoughts of taking military consideration. In this regard, it is essential to state that Egypt has made an active participator to decrease the violence that has been cited during this war. Hence, the long-term cooperation with the UAE military has developed significant discussion regarding the involvement of different countries. Although, a recent report has accused the UAE of occurring war with Yemen and destroying the properties of this country. It is observed that the military coalition of UAE and Saudi Arabia have imposed a negative impact on the overall environment of Yemen.

It is reported that private military contractors, along with the UAE army had blatantly killed thousands of innocent civilians during the wars. In addition, it is also stated that due to the involvement of PMCs and other countries, the UAE army did not bother to rape women in Yemen. Hence, the extortion of children and women has questioned the notion of ‘peaceful integrity’ developed by the United Nations. However, it is observed that officials of the Ministry of Defence of UAE have ignored this charge of executing civilians and interpreted it as a false claim to decrease the image of UAE in the international level. Hence, it can be assumed that the involvement of PMCs in the war has created significant problems in the UAE and has also influenced the foreign relation of this country.

Conclusion

The above discussion on the Private Military Contractors has identified some crucial aspects that need to be reviewed by the UAE appropriately. It is defined that the UAE has developed a significant army to protect its natural resources and geographical boundaries. In addition, it is found that deploying PMCs might create considerable problems for countries. Despite the growing demand for PMCs in modern-day warfare, racial discrimination has been identified. Besides this, it is also found that deploying PMCs might influence the international image of any country. Although, the importance of PMCs has been recovered from the discussion of the relationship between private military contractors. It is identified that PMCs play critical roles in securing the national strategy of any country. Nevertheless, it can also be concluded that improper deployment of PMCs might affect the relationships of any country with other countries, as cited in the case of UAE and the Yemen War.  

References

Anyimadu, Adjoa. "Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea: Lessons Learned from the Indian Ocean." Chatham House 02 (2013).

Baum, Joel AC, and Anita M. McGahan. "The reorganization of legitimate violence: The contested terrain of the private military and security industry during the post-Cold War era." Research in Organizational Behavior 33 (2013): 3-37.

Chisholm, Amanda. "The silenced and indispensible: Gurkhas in private military security companies." International Feminist Journal of Politics 16.1 (2014): 26-47.

Cox, Ronald W. "The Military-Industrial Complex and US Military Spending After 9/11." Class, Race and Corporate Power 2.2 (2014): 5.

Cusumano, Eugenio. "The scope of military privatisation: Military role conceptions and contractor support in the United States and the United Kingdom." International Relations 29.2 (2015): 219-241.

Higate, Paul. "Aversions to Masculine Excess in the Private Military and Security Company and Their Effects: Don’t Be a ‘Billy Big Bollocks’ and Beware the ‘Ninja!’”." Gender and Private Security in Global Politics (2015): 134-141.

Kinsey, Chris. "Turning war into business: Private security companies and commercial opportunism." The Ashgate research companion to modern warfare (2016): 183-200.

Kruck, Andreas. "Theorising the use of private military and security companies: a synthetic perspective." Journal of International Relations and Development 17.1 (2014): 112-141.

Li, Darryl. "Migrant Workers and the US Military in the Middle East." Middle East Report 275 (2015).

Moore, Adam. "US military logistics outsourcing and the everywhere of war." Territory, Politics, Governance 5.1 (2017): 5-27.

Noll, Jessica, and Stephan Roll. "From Yemen war to joint army? Egyptian-Saudi differences over Arab military cooperation." Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik. https://www. swp-berlin. org/fileadmin/contents/products/comments/2015C31_noj_rll. pdf (2015).

Salisbury, Peter. "Yemen and the Saudi–Iranian ‘Cold War’." Research Paper, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs 11 (2015).

Shah, Reema. "Beating Blackwater: Using Domestic Legislation to Enforce the International Code of Conduct for Private Military Companies." Yale LJ 123 (2013): 2559.

ten Dam1, C. T. "Private Military Contractors: Deplore or Deploy?–Lessons from the ‘Blackwater Scandal’in Iraq." Forum of EthnoGeoPolitics. Vol. 1. 2013.