Introduction

There has been, among many scholars and practitioners, a steadfast refusal to acknowledge the existence of what Macaulay, many years ago, recognized as ‘private governments’ (that is, non-state entities that operate not simply as providers of governance on behalf of state agencies but as auspices of governance in their own right) (Macaulay 1986). These governments, like state governments, authorize and direct activities intended to shape the flow of events (Parker and Braithwaite 2003) so as to promote various governmental outcomes – in distinguishing between auspices and providers of governance I am drawing on Bayley and Shearing (2001). Private governments that engage in steering the flow of events to promote security are, like states, auspices that engage in ‘[purposive strategies] involving the initiation of techniques which are intended to offer guarantees of security’ (Johnston 2000b: 10).

Private governments are now ubiquitous. More importantly, what they do has shaped, and continues to shape, the world fundamentally and dramatically.