PMCs have rapidly become an important player in several conflicts around the globe and have been an essential part of the American war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. Historically, mercenaries have been a vital part of many European wars, but had a decline after the Napoleonic Wars. PMCs saw a rise in demand after the Cold war and the liberation of former colonies, especially in Africa. PMCs are now considered by some security analysts to have grown into something that can define what security is and how threats against it should be met. The purpose of this thesis is to examine if the Swedish PMCs have developed into an actor that may influence the security apparatus in Sweden. The thesis’ theoretical framework derives from the Copenhagen shool and the speech act. The speech act is further concretized for the paper, through the use of Anna Leanders’ channels of influence that PMC use in order to gain influence; state interest in the companies, outsourcing leading to dependence, privatization of the information gathering and the work with security analyzis, education and training, lobbying and expertise. The study is a quality study based on written materials and interviews with representatives from companies in the market and the Swedish Armed Forces.
It is evident from the report that the Swedish PMCs have not yet developed into an actor that has any real influence on the security debate. The corporate interlocutors agree that the Swedish market is very different from the American and British markets. The representative from the Armed Forces agrees that Sweden differs in much from the USA and considers it impossible for the Armed Forces to have external actors such as PMCs be responsible for the information gathering and security analysis. Even though the budget for the Armed Forces is small, it is very reluctant to outsource anything but logistics and training in some, very limited cases.