Privatised Violence in Global Politics: Past and Present.

In a world dominated by nation-states privatised violence is often neglected: either as a relic of a more disorganised past, or as a marginal nuisance to states themselves. The prevalence and centrality of privatised violence both past and present - as part of or against the rise of nation-states or in the form of transnational terrorism, private military companies and banditry - warns against such complacency. An increasing academic interest in 'non-state' or privatised violence in international relations has been mirrored in the world of policy as terrorists, insurgents, and private military companies have all become an integral part of contemporary international relations. This paper seeks to consider both breaks and continuities in such expressions of force, with particular reference to the diverse forms and roles of sea borne violence in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world. Engaging with historical and political-economic accounts of piracy, privateering and their contemporary counterparts, the paper aims to shed light on the relationship between these expressions of violence and the reproduction of the British empire. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]