Abstract :
The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been characterized by the deployment of large private
military forces, under contract with the US administration. The use of so-called private military
corporations (PMCs) and, more generally, of mercenaries, has long attracted criticisms. This article
argues that under certain conditions (drawn from the Just War tradition), there is nothing inherently
objectionable about mercenarism. It begins by exposing a weakness in the most obvious justification
for mercenarism, to wit, the justification from freedom of occupational choice. It then deploys a less
obvious, but stronger, argument – one that appeals to the importance of enabling just defensive
killings. Finally, it rebuts five moral objections to mercenarism.
