Outsourcing Security in Authoritarian States: Context Sensitivity and the Nodal-Network Framework of Analysis

The public provision of security is traditionally tied to the sovereignty and legitimacy of the modern state. In the meantime, private security actors are playing an increasingly substantial role in the domestic and international provision of public and private security. Against this background, this chapter affirms the need to closely examine the globally expanding processes of privatizing security, particularly some authoritarian states’ decision to outsource the public provision of security. In this vein, the chapter examines how different states use and abuse the privatization of security and how this phenomenon impacts the expression and reconfiguration of state power as well as the relationship between the state and the citizenry. Moreover, in terms of studying the security market, especially amid an evolving security environment and under entrenched authoritarian states, the chapter proposes the nodal-network framework of analysis as highly suitable for the study of outsourcing security in contemporary authoritarian states and beyond. Acknowledging the value and strengths of the nodal and network models in studying contemporary security markets, the nodal-network framework of analysis essentially combines the two models into a holistic framework, which enables a more comprehensive study of individual cases as well as in-depth cross-case analysis.