Peacebuilding, Power, and Politics in Africa

3. Security Sector Governance and Peacebuilding

63 T H R E E Security Sector Governance and Peacebuilding e b o e H u t C H f u l S e C u r i t Y S e C t o r G o V e r n A n C e ( S S G ) i S A C C e P t e d A S A C r i t i C A L element in state- and peacebuilding.1 this focus is justified, not least, by the intimate link between breakdowns of SSg and the genesis of conflict . repression and abuses by security institutions have often laid the foundation or provided the trigger for broad-based, even catastrophic, conflict. there have, however, been few postconflict contexts in Africa where building institutions of security governance, as opposed to stabilizing and normalizing the security situation, has been a priority. South Africa, and to a much more limited extent Sierra leone, are exceptions . engagement with justice reform and rule of law issues, essential underpinnings of democratic SSg, has also been weak in postconflict contexts. nevertheless, conflict can have, and has had, transformational effects on SSg, offering incentives to take reform of security practices and governance more seriously. Conflict produces a proliferation of structures of force that render effective security governance imperative, but challenging, in a context of widespread institutional weakness. Security sector governance will need to be recast in a more inclusive direction if it is to capture the diversity of institutions, such as private, nonformal, and community-based, involved in delivery of security and justice on the ground. the chapter provides an analysis of three case studies of security sector reform in the context of postconflict reconstruction—liberia, Sierra leone, and South Africa—and asks why SSg has been a lower priority in liberia and Sierra leone compared to South Africa. various factors 64 eboe HutCHFuL may explain this apparent paradox, the central argument being that ownership was present in the case of South Africa, but largely absent in the other two. ownership becomes important in light of the complex and sometimes competing objectives that characterize contemporary peacebuilding under international auspices. SSg in the African Context reconstructing SSg in the aftermath of conflict can be a particularly daunting task, but it is nevertheless important to locate the issue in broader context. there has been prioritization of building “effective” security and state systems rather than accountable security and state systems founded on due process and rule of law—in other words, security sector reform (SSr) rather than security sector governance. Security governance in Africa as a whole has remained largely resistant to democratization. military coups continue to be part of the political dynamic in a number of countries, such as mauritania, madagascar, guinea, and guinea-bissau. there are also more insidious forms of “securitization” that transcend even the most “democratic” regimes in Africa, mainly related to weak rule of law environments. in sum, even where “coups” are not obviously on the agenda, security services have remained the mainstay of “softer,” civilianized autocracies masquerading under the guise of electoral democracy. the Au dream of a community of democratic states with accountable and democratically governed security forces remains, at best, some way in the future.2 dynamics and Challenges of force in Postconflict Contexts Conflict and postconflict situations give rise to particularly complex landscapes of force, arising from the need to prosecute multilayered, crosscutting conflicts. these encompass international forces; governmental military, paramilitary, and other security elements; warlords, rebel forces, and various militia with equally variable loyalties; community, traditional, and local security organs; and private (commercial) security. “Asymmetric” or “composite” forces are a recognized feature of counterinsurgency and civil wars,3 with both states and nonstate actors driven by various and incongruent calculations and motivations.4 Although not necessarily generating or controlling private security companies, states both strong and weak have sought to tap into private commercial as well as noncommercial circuits of violence for their own interests.5 due to this multitiered and often intertwined landscape of force, it is 65 Security Sector governance and Peacebuilding necessary to reframe security governance in countries emerging from conflict. SSg should be recast in a more inclusive direction, to capture the diversity of institutions—formal, private, nonformal, and communitybased —involved in the actual delivery of security and justice on the ground.the “security sector” itself will have to be defined more broadly. given that “security” is a critical...