Public functions are increasingly being outsourced to the private sector. This includes activities that impact on human rights and security, such as the management of prisons and water facilities. Drawing on insights from various disciplines, this book looks at the costs and benefits of privatization and at whether there are limits to this trend.

Simon Chesterman is Global Professor and Director of the New York University School of Law Singapore Programme, and a Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore. His books include You, The People: The United Nations, Transitional Administration, and State-Building (Oxford University Press, 2004) and Just War or Just Peace? Humanitarian Intervention and International Law (Oxford University Press, 2001).
Angelina Fisher is Institute Fellow and Program Director of the Institute for International Law and Justice. She was one of the primary researchers and authors of the reports Torture by Proxy: International and Domestic Law Applicable to "Extraordinary Renditions", issued jointly by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (CHRGJ), and Beyond Guantanamo: Transfers to Torture One Year After Rasul v. Bush, issued by the CHRGJ. Angelina is also a co-author of Tortured Logic Renditions to Justice, Extraordinary Rendition, and Human Rights Law.

• Introduction


• Part I: Accountability gaps


• 1: Michael Likosky: The privatization of violence


• 2: Olivier De Schutter: The responsibility of states


• 3: Angelina Fisher: Accountability to whom?


• Part II: Lessons from other sectors


• 4: Daphne Barak-Erez: The privatization continuum


• 5: Alfred C Aman, Jr: Private prisons and the democratic deficit


• 6: Mariana Mota Prado: Regulatory choices in the privatization of infrastructure


• 7: Rebecca DeWinter-Schmitt: Human rights and self-regulation in the apparel industry


• Part III: Limits


• 8: Jacqueline Ross: Police informants


• 9: Simon Chesterman: Intelligence services


• 10: Chia Lehnardt: Peacekeeping


• 11: Simon Chesterman and Angelina Fisher: Conclusion: Private security, public order