Private Security Companies in Serbia – Friend or Foe?

With the support of OSCE Mission in Serbia, Centre for Civil-Military Relations has undertaken an field research within the scope of the project „Private Security Companies (PSC) in Serbia – A Friend or Foe?“. This is the first empirical research of its kind ever taken in Serbia. The general motivation behind research efforts was the existing lack of any law(s) defining the work of PSC in Serbia has been.

The goal of the project was therefore, to research and demystify the process of privatisation of security in Serbia. Privatisation of security as such was one of the consequences of the breakdown of bi-polar global order and introduction of market based approach into the way in which public institutions operate. This is why PSC today constitute an important actor of national, regional and global security. It is worth saying how the phenomenon of privatization of security is rather new in Serbia, burdened by legacies of war, legal gaps and general unawareness of this phenomenon among citizens.

In the first part of the research, four draft laws in circulation in Serbia, legal documents of countries in the Western Balkans and several EU countries were analysed.

Second part of the research was consisted of interviews with the representatives of PSC working on various assignments, employees and the representatives of the most important clients – banks and insurance companies. Interviews were conducted with the representatives of the Committee for Security and Defence of the National Assembly and the Anti-Corruption Council. The greatest achievement of the research is the fact that all important actors in the process were included, while the deficiencies of the findings can be attributed to the fact that this is the first research of its kind ever conducted in Serbia.