Reconstructing Security After Conflict

A long-term evaluation and analysis of the UK's involvement in Sierra Leone before and after the conflict which ended in 2002. This book looks at how UK intervention moved from initial involvement through to war fighting and then post-conflict reconstruction, specifically of the security infrastructure.

The trend for international engagement in post-conflict reconstruction has produced a host of best-practice postulates on topics such as local involvement in decision-making, accountability for past atrocities, sensitivity to context, and the construction of democratic institutions of governance. International law has potential relevance for many of these themes, yet the question of how the implementation of best-practice policy recommendations might be affected by international law remains under-examined. This book offers a fuller understanding of the role of international law in the practice of post-conflict reconstruction. It explores how international legal issues that arise in the post-conflict period relate to a number of strands of the policy debate, including government creation, constitution-making, gender policy, provision of security, justice for past atrocities, rule of law development, economic recovery, returning displaced persons, and responsibilities of international actors. The chapters of the book work to reveal the extent to which international law figures in the policy of internationally enabled post-conflict reconstruction across a range of sectors. They also highlight the scope for international law to be harnessed in a more effective manner from the perspective of the transition to peace and stability. The book lays out a basis for future policy making on post-conflict reconstruction; one that is informed about the international legal parameters, and more aware of how international law can be utilized to promote key objectives.

The Great Lakes region of Africa is characterized by protest politics, partial democratization, political illegitimacy and unstable economic growth. Many of the countries that are members of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) which are: Burundi, Angola, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia, have experienced political violence and bloodshed at one time or another. While a few states have been advancing electoral democracy, environmental protection and peaceful state building, the overall intensity of violence in the region has led to civil wars, invasion, genocide, dictatorships, political instability, and underdevelopment. Efforts to establish sustainable peace, meaningful socio-economic development and participatory democracy have not been quite successful. Using various methodologies and paradigms, this book interrogates the complexity of the causes of these conflicts; and examines their impact and implications for socio-economic development of the region. The non-consensual actions related to these conflicts and imperatives of power struggles supported by the agents of savage capitalism have paralysed efforts toward progress. The book therefore recommends new policy frameworks within regionalist lenses and neo-realist politics to bring about sustainable peace in the region.

In Youth and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Agents of Change, Stephanie Schwartz goes beyond these highly publicized cases and examines the roles of the broader youth population in post-conflict scenarios, taking on the complex task of distinguishing between the legal and societal labels of "child," "youth," and "adult."

In Liberia and Sierra Leone, strategies to reform and reconstruct the security sector have centred on re-establishing the state's monopoly on the use of force. However, little attention is given to the array of non-state actors that often play a major role in how individuals and communities experience security. Rebuilding the Security Sector in Post-Conflict Societies: Perceptions from Urban Liberia and Sierra Leone seek to address this gap by applying a human security approach to security provision across these two contexts. A key point of departure is that in the long run there can be no alternative within post-conflict societies to a locally owned security sector. Operationalising the concept of local ownership means that internationally-supported security sector reform (SSR) activities need to reflect these local realities. As explored within this study, fostering synergies between state and non-state security actors may therefore offer an important avenue to support more sustainable, legitimate SSR efforts. Judy Smith-H�¶hn is a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa. Prior to her present position she was a research fellow at the GIGA Institute of African Affairs in Hamburg, Germany and later a senior researcher at the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town in South Africa. Her thematic emphases lie in the areas of violent conflict and its prevention, and security sector reform within a regional focus on Liberia, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe. She has published nationally and internationally on topics ranging from security sector reform and postconflict peacebuilding to democratic transformation in South Africa. She holds a PhD from the University of Leipzig, Germany, and a Diplom (masters degree) in Political Science from the University of Hamburg, Germany.

In a nation-building operation, outside states invest much of their resources in establishing and maintaining the host country's police, internal security forces, and justice system. This book examines post-Cold War reconstruction efforts, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and assesses the success of U.S. and allied efforts in reconstructing internal security institutions.

This volume explores questions of rebuilding governance in post-conflict societies from an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on three interconnected gaps that arise in fragile states: deficits in legitimacy, effectiveness, and security.