Department of Defense Analysis of Parrott's The Business Of War
It has come my attention that superiors at the Department of Defense (DOD) have requested my input on the historical role of played by private defense contractors, and the following report is intended to provide a synthesis of the work published by perhaps the most respected and recognized sources on this subject. Dr. David Parrott is the author of the seminal treatise on private military contracting throughout history -- titled The Business of War: Military Enterprise and Military Revolution in Early Modern Europe -- and by adapting his thorough and comprehensive research on the influence of military enterprisers, mercenaries, and other segments of the private defense contracting industry, the DOD can formulate a more informed strategic foundation with which to shape future policy. As Parrott's writing style and logical construction can often be extremely obscure, the following biographical account and explication of his work is intended to review Parrott's qualifications and expertise, before his theoretical frameworks are deconstructed and adapted to be better suited for modern warfare.
Upon earning his B.A. And Ph.D. In History at the University of Oxford, Parrott was selected to serve as a lecturer by the University of York. Parrott returned to the New College at Oxford after being appointed to the position of Fellow and Tutor in 1992, and he has also worked as a lecturer within the History Faculty, where he served as the Director of Graduate Studies from 2010-2012. The body of scholarly research and academic writing produced by Parrott has been predominately focused on the intricate connections which existed between warring states, feudal governments and commercial industries during the early modern period (1500-1750) of European history. According to the fellows database maintained by the New College at the University of Oxford, Parrott "teaches elements of the first year outline courses in historiography and methodology and more specialized courses on the Spanish New World, early modern Court Culture and seventeenth-century France" (2013), and he has contributed several scholarly articles to compiled texts on the subject of military enterprise, including "War and International Relations in Seventeenth-Century Europe," and "From Military Enterprise to Standing Armies: War, State and Society in Western Europe."
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