Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want: An Introduction to Human Security, by Robert J. Hanlon and Kenneth Christie

Date01 June 2018
Published date01 June 2018
DOI10.1177/0020702018783443
Subject MatterBook Reviews
SG-IJXJ180038 185..186 Book Reviews
333
the commercial viability of PMSCs is bounded and shaped by what state militaries
prefer to do themselves and what they want out of their contractor auxiliaries. It is
a persuasive case, and helps to explain why the global PMSC sector has taken its
current form.
Though his argument is convincing, it is tightly bounded, which raises concerns
about what is going on just outside of his scope. Spearin is clear that his analysis is
limited to PMSCs hired by developed states (particularly the US), PMSCs that
provide armed services, and the land, sea, and air milieus. His restrictions are not
without good reason, but they do leave some questions unexplained: what does the
state–PMSC relationship look like in the developing world? What does the rela-
tionship look like further from the tip of the spear? What does his analysis portend
for space power and especially cyber-power where the inf‌luence of private actors is
enormous?
Perhaps it is a symptom of his tightly circumscribed agenda that these questions
arise. It is just as likely that Spearin is on to something that PMSC scholarship has
yet to engage with. What is certain is that there is much more to be explored in the
study of PMSCs. Indeed, the private military and security industry has matured
over the past twenty years, and so has the literature. Ultimately, Christopher
Spearin’s analysis is a sophisticated contribution to this latest wave of scholarship
on PMSCs in the twenty-f‌irst century.
Robert J. Hanlon and Kenneth Christie
Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want: An Introduction to Human Security
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016. 275 pp. $Can32.95 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-4426-0957-0
Reviewed by: Sorpong Peou (speou@politics.ryerson.ca), Ryerson University, Canada
Human security emerged as an innovative concept in 1994, when the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published its human development
report. Since then, scholars and policymakers have paid attention to the concept
by incorporating...

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