Security Sector Reform, Statebuilding and Local Ownership: Securing the State or its People?

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that while local ownership is one of the core principles of successful Security Sector Reform (SSR) programmes, the concept is narrowly interpreted in terms of who owns what. Moreover, the focus of SSR is often on building state institutions, rather than building the relationship between people and the state, which further limits the extent to which people, particularly at the community level, are engaged in SSR processes. It is argued that without ensuring meaningful and inclusive local ownership of SSR programmes, public trust and confidence in state security and justice sector institutions will be limited. Crucially, this will leave the state vulnerable to renewed outbreaks of conflict. To rectify this it is proposed that a hybrid SSR approach be promoted by incorporating community safety structures into SSR programmes.

Keywords:

• Security Sector Reform (SSR)
• local ownership
• statebuilding
• peacebuilding
• community safety structures

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the journal editors, two anonymous reviewers, Professor Adrian Beck at the University of Leicester and Chamila Hemmathagama at Saferworld for their invaluable comments and feedback on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes on Contributor

Dr Eleanor Gordon has 15 years of professional experience in the field of conflict, security and justice, including 10 years working in post-conflict environments with the UN and other organizations. She is currently working at the University of Leicester where she has recently developed and is delivering a distance-learning MSc course in Security, Conflict and International Development (SCID).