Guns, Laws and Politics: The Political Foundations of Rule of Law and Security Sector Reform

Berg, Louis-Alexandre

doi:10.1017/s1876404512000024

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Along these lines, this article follows the call of Jackson and Bakrania (2018, 21) for a non-linear approach recognizing 'that externally imposed liberal structures sit on top of the real underlying politics of states, rather than being neutral arbiters'. As a consequence, an analysis of the existing power relations is necessary, as these frame the conditions for reform and shape as well as affect the dimensions and outcome of reforms (Berg 2012). Thus, the analysis of security and judiciary sector reforms needs to take into account (a) the relation between these institutions and the political context because the latter shapes the degree of autonomy and/or control of the former; and (b) the nature and scope of a change as well as its contentious nature.…”

Section: A Historical Institutionalist Approach To Ssrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Judicial Reform – A Neglected Dimension of SSR in El Salvador

Kurtenbach

2018

Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding

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Security Sector Reform is an integral part of peace-building but the focus of international actors tends to be on formal state security providers. This article argues that reforms in the judicial system are key for the non-violent transformation of societal conflicts. Based on historical institutionalism a theoretical argument links justice and peace. Reforms of the judiciary need to be an integral part of SSR because otherwise reforms in the military and the police can easily be undermined or turned back. A case study on El Salvador provides empirical insights on the interrelation between reforms of these institutions.

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Section: A Historical Institutionalist Approach To Ssrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Judicial Reform – A Neglected Dimension of SSR in El Salvador

Kurtenbach

2018

Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding

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“…Hence, a patrimonialization of police forces is often the outcome of statebuilding efforts 16 . Thus, central to efforts to refor m justice and law enforcement in post-conflict societies is the fact that a change in these societal areas implies a significant shift in power (Berg 2012). For example, Jackson (2011: 1810) argues that "[at] the heart of SSR are the core values of democracy, good governance, gender equality, transparency and accountability, as well as a desire to propagate universal human rights.…”

Section: State Of the Art: Interventions And Small-scale Violencementioning

confidence: 99%

Liberal Statebuilding Interventions and the Monopoly on Violence

Brast¹

2017

Preprint

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Since the end of the Cold War, liberal statebuilding interventions in conflict-ridden societies have become a major feature of the international system. Although these interventions seek to export liberal statehood, they often fail to establish the minimum feature of the modern state: The monopoly on the use of force. The dissertation seeks to explain the outcomes of liberal statebuilding interventions in terms of violence regulation. Using a novel process-tracing method, the study looks for violence monopolization patterns within and across the cases of Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Sierra Leone. The findings indicate that a liberal statebuilding intervention leads to a state monopoly on violence when the intervention is supported by key regional actors and when the target society had a history of strong statehood prior to civil war.

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“…This is particularly the case with SSR, which can substantially limit the power of elites in society (see Berg 2012;Gordon 2011;Heupel 2012). Local actors may also not accept some of the fundamental principles of SSR, outside local ownership, such as the need for security structures to be affordable, responsive to the needs of the people, and representative of them.…”

Section: Local Ownership and Security Sector Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such an approach would, as Scheye (2008) suggests, help to avoid prejudicing SSR outcomes and pre-determining who the local owners should be. Empowering and engaging civil society and those at the community-level can also accelerate the reform process, particularly where there is a lack of will among the political and security elites to engage in reform, and ultimately promote broad-based security and justice (see Berg 2012). A hybrid SSR approach, which incorporates top-down and bottom-up approaches to building security and justice after conflict, would tick 'many of the boxes of "local ownership", "participation" and "sustainability" that external statebuilders crave' (Mac Ginty 2011, 1).…”

Section: Statebuilding Ssr and Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%