Abstract

This thesis examines how the legal indeterminacy of international law facilitates state evasion of accountability through the use of private military and security companies (PMSCs) as proxies in extraterritorial operations. Focusing on China’s deployment of PSCs to safeguard Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects, it argues that ambiguities within the doctrines of attribution and responsibility under the Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA) create a permissive legal environment that enables states to outsource coercive functions without incurring formal liability. Drawing upon Hobbesian Realist theory, Carl Schmitt’s concept of the sovereign exception, and insights from Critical Legal Theory (CLT), the study demonstrates that legal ambiguity is not a flaw but a structural feature of the international legal order: one that perpetuates and conceals power asymmetries amongst states. China is presented as a ‘cautious Schmittian sovereign,’ strategically invoking or suspending legal norms to advance geopolitical aims while maintaining formal insulation from accountability under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and state responsibility frameworks. By combining doctrinal analysis with critical theory, the thesis situates the Chinese case within a broader pattern in which international law functions less as a constraint and more as an instrument for managing visibility, shaping legality, and preserving sovereign discretion in the contemporary international order.

School

School of Global Affairs and Public Policy

Department

Law Department

Degree Name

LLM in International and Comparative Law

Graduation Date

Winter 12-10-2025

Submission Date

9-10-2025

First Advisor

Thomas Skouteris

Committee Member 1

Hani Sayed

Committee Member 2

Jason Beckett

Extent

58 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

Disclosure of AI Use

No use of AI

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