Bulgarians’ Motivation for Participation in Private Military Companies

Abstract

Private military companies are becoming increasingly popular; their manpower is higher than the manpower of some national armies. Nevertheless, they still exist in the shadows and are often called “shadow armies”. Recently PMC have been participating in various military conflicts including the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. National armies are losing manpower because soldiers prefer to join private military companies. When such companies recruit staff internationally, they directly weaken the national armies because the PMC contractors are mostly ex-militaries and ex-police staff. PMCs could promote the interests of the countries from where they originate and there can be a strong link with the state despite the private nature of PMC. In this case, mercenaries contribute to the foreign policy of their own countries and their motivation is affected accordingly. The article aims at outlining the motives of Bulgarian citizens to join international private military companies, thus shedding light on this under-researched problem. It is usually considered that PMC contractors’ motives are mostly related to profit. However, there are other strong motivations that need examination. It is argued that their motivation depends on both personal characteristics, as well as on the environmental factors (social, economic, political) in contractors’ state of origin.