LE PMCs COME STRUMENTO DI STRATEGIA ESTERA: STORIA, EVOLUZIONE E IMPIEGO DELLE COMPAGNIE MILITARI PRIVATE

In recent years, the use of mercenaries, private military forces and other types of military actors has become increasingly common and widespread. In particular, recent mercenary activities have occurred in countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Libya, Ukraine, Venezuela, Central African Republic, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Clients of these private military entities include not only states such as Russia, Venezuela, the United Arab Emirates, China, the USA, but also oligarchs, terrorists, criminal organizations, oil, and maritime shipping companies. The mercenaries of the XXI century are no longer stragglers armed with Kalashnikovs fighting in some decolonization conflict which characterized the previous century, they are real professionals in the sector, able to pilot aircraft, drive armored vehicles or conduct special operations through real teams of Special Forces. Moreover, the operations they are able to conduct are no longer simple kinetic activities, but they are also able to operate in the cyber domain, the cyber-space, through so-called "Hack-back" mercenary companies. The international community has slowly begun to view this phenomenon with concern, a growing threat capable of altering the distribution of power within the global system. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze this phenomenon by defining what a PMC (Private Military Corporation) is, the history of mercenaries, how contractors were and are used by superpowers, the figure of the contractor from a legal point of view.