Dr Christopher Kinsey is a Reader in Business and International Security with King’s College London, Defence Studies Department at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, where he teaches military officers from around the world. His research examines the role of the market in conflict.  Dr Kinsey has published widely from books, book chapters and articles in leading academic journals on the subject. He has also presented papers to the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on PMSCs, NATO and the EU Sub-Committee on Human Rights.  Dr Kinsey’s present work looks at the regulation of private security companies, the impact of contracted logistical support to military expeditionary operations, and mercenary operations in Africa during the Cold War. His previous books include Corporate Soldiers and International Security (London: Routledge, 2006); Private Contractors and the Reconstruction of Iraq: Transforming Military Logistics (London: Routledge, 2009); the Edited Volume, Contractors and War: The Transformation of United States’ Military and Stabilization Operations (USA: Stanford University Press); the Edited Volume, The Routledge Research Companion to Security Outsourcing (London: Routledge, 2016); and the Edited Volume, Embassies Under Siege: Diplomatic Security Policies Compared (California: Stanford University Press, 2019).

Helene Olsen is a doctoral candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. She teaches various courses in both the Department of War Studies at King’s and at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham. Currently, her research focuses on the use of mercenaries and their perceived illegitimacy, as well as the privatisation of security and military functions more broadly. Her work will feature in the forthcoming book Violent Nonstate Actors in Conflict from Howgate Publishing.