Shadow Company

If you're seeking a sociological explanation for the emergence of private military contractors in relation to the history of the nation state, I'd recommend taking a look at Catherine McCoy's piece in Contexts Magazine. It's an excerpt from her dissertation, so I hope she publishes some day, or at least makes it freely available on the web. She also generously provides a very good bibliography on this important issue, including references to the documentary Shadow Company, a clip from which I've posted here (this documentary is also no slouch in contextualizing in relation to longer term relationships, in a manner generally not possible in the reportage style of traditional news media).