Along with the widespread privatization in many fields debates arose about the appropriate role of private actors and under what conditions private actors can provide international security. Yet, research on the privatization of security has almost completely focused only on the operative providers of private security: PMSCs. To understand private security, its advantages and dangers, however, one needs to arrive at a comprehensive view of private security. Beyond PMSCs, private businesses and their associations have established institutions playing a key role in the private provision of security. The question is approached by testing hypotheses derived from two streams of literature outside of the security realm: environmental governance and public goods theory. The testing is conducted by analyzing the activities of PMSCs and the shipping industry fighting Somali piracy. Here operational and regulative private initiatives can be found and conditions which favor or constrain the private provision of security assessed.
