Towards an Integrated Security Sector Reform Approach in UN Peace Operations

Abstract

HE INER HÄ NGGI an d VINC ENZ A S C HER RERThis article examines the possibilities and constraints of the United Nations in developing and implementing an integrated approach to Security Sector Reform (SSR), with particular emphasis on integrated missions. The article introduces the SSR concept, and examines the UN's engagement in this sector. It then forwards three main strands of argument that support the need for developing an integrated SSR approach, and highlights the impact that this will have on the coherence and efficiency of UN support to national SSR processes. Examining the challenges and obstacles the UN system will face in developing such an approach, the article concludes on a cautious note and questions the extent to which an integrated SSR approach is feasible.

Introducing the Peacekeeping Mandates (PEMA) Dataset

“…Scholars who study the evolution of specific mandate provisions, such as human rights (Månsson 2006), security sector reform (Hänggi and Scherrer 2008), protection of civilians (Mamiya 2016), protection of children (Bode 2018), gender mainstreaming (Karim and Beardsley 2017), public information and strategic communications (Oksamytna 2018), or economic development (Gledhill, Caplan, and Meiske 2021), could benefit from a comprehensive overview of their evolution across and within peacekeeping operations. Studies could also investigate how internal factors (UNSC composition and power differentials or members’ foreign policies and relations with the host government) and external pressures (civil society activism or media attention) shape the Council’s approach to mandated tasks.…”