Content Type: Working Paper / Publishing Institution: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) / Journal: / Topic: Security

1. Guidelines for Intelligence Oversight for Parliamentary Committees in the Assembly of the Republic of North Maced

Author:: Teodora Fuior
Publication Date:: 01-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The Guidelines for Intelligence Oversight reviews the Macedonian legislative framework and oversight system, and it provides information on international principles and good practices in intelligence oversight. It is designed to inform and support parliamentary committees in fulfilling their oversight mandate, especially in conceptualizing and planning oversight activities which need to contribute to an uncontested improvement of parliamentary performance in intelligence and security oversight. This revised version of the Guidelines shall respond to the expectations and needs of the new members of the Assembly, continuing to serve as a useful and informative tool for their work.
Topic:: Security, Intelligence, Governance, and Oversight
Political Geography:: Europe and North Macedonia

2. Cybersecurity in the Western Balkans: A Guide to Public-Private Partnerships

Author:: Franziska Klopfer and Irina Rizmal
Publication Date:: 03-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This Guide is designed to support Western Balkan governments and non-state actors that are planning to establish cybersecurity Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as part of their public–private cooperation. Drawing on international best practice, and referencing the region’s distinctive cultural, economic, and social context, it highlights options for establishing suitable cooperation frameworks and methods for overcoming obstacles. Chapter 1 of this Guide defines and sets out the main concepts and principles that underpin the guidance on planning, establishing, and maintaining a cybersecurity PPP. Chapter 2 provides practical, advice on how to plan, set up, and run a cybersecurity PPP in the specific context of the Western Balkans. Chapter 3 presents various types of cybersecurity PPPs and offers concrete examples from the Western Balkans and other parts of the world. A second text entitled “Legal and policy frameworks in Western Balkan economies on PPPs in cybersecurity” provides a succinct overview of the frameworks already in place in the Western Balkan economies.
Topic:: Security, Cybersecurity, Public Sector, Private Sector, and Public-Private Partnership
Political Geography:: Europe and Balkans

3. Cybersecurity Capacity Building and Donor Coordination in the Western Balkans

Author:: Fabio Barbero and Nils Berglund
Publication Date:: 05-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: As the interwoven threats and opportunities of cybersecurity and digital development grow more complex, and geopolitical tensions rise, both donors and recipients should look towards a more holistic understanding of capacity building in the Western Balkans, while embracing an approach which enables meaningful international engagement on the peace and security of cyberspace. Continued interest and investment in cybersecurity capacity building in the region clearly indicates that the Western Balkans remain strategically important for a number of international actors. Systematic coordination-by-design methodologies and best practices among donors that utilise whole-of-society and multi-stakeholder approaches can improve the legitimacy, ownership and sustainability of outcomes in the context of persistent challenges to human capacity, political will, and resource scarcity. Furthermore, to better define the roles of different capacity building actors, help identify opportunities for strategic partnerships, and clarify donor-recipient relationships, donors should seek to strengthen the links between policy objectives and strategies for capacity building interventions. This discussion paper explores how cyber capacity building actors and initiatives in the Western Balkans could be better coordinated, while considering the barriers to reaching cyber maturity in the region. Firstly, the paper offers a brief overview of projects, donors, and implementing organisations active in the Western Balkans, based on desk research and a series of interviews with relevant stakeholders. Secondly, the paper explores best practices on coordination through the framework implemented by Operational Guidance for the EU’s International Cooperation on Cyber Capacity Building. Based on the above findings, practical insights and recommendations are proposed, with an eye towards enhancing future cybersecurity capacity building investment
Topic:: Security, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and Donors
Political Geography:: Europe and Balkans

4. Exploring Armed Groups in Libya:

Author:: Emadeddin Badi
Publication Date:: 11-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Libya’s security sector has become virtually unrecognizable from what it was a decade ago owing to the transformations brought about since the 2011 revolution. This evolution has implications on any attempts to usher in short-term and interim security arrangements as well as longer-term security sector reform (SSR) efforts. The paper explores the impact of different dimensions of these transformations on security provision in the Libyan landscape. In doing so, it aims to highlight the implications this has on attempts to reform the country’s hybrid security sector, and more broadly, how SSR doctrine can be informed by its findings.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Governance, and Conflict
Political Geography:: Africa and Libya

5. Enhancing Multilateral Support for Security Sector Reform:A Mapping Study covering the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

Author:: Vincenza Scherrer and Alba Bescos Pou
Publication Date:: 01-2018
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Multilateral organizations are playing an important role in shaping the SSR agenda through the development of policy and guidance and by engaging in the provision of a wide range of SSR support on the ground. However, despite their significant engagement in this area, there is no predictability in terms of the type of support that multilateral organizations will take on. While policy frameworks concur that international support should be well coordinated, the support provided by these organizations tends to be compartmentalized in practice. As a result, considerable time is often lost while each organization separately assesses a conflict, maps what others are doing, and agrees on a division of labour. The report presents the findings of a multi-year research project on the approaches of the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to supporting nationally-led SSR processes. The study aims at developing an empirically-based understanding of the roles and potential comparative advantages of these organizations in SSR support, as well as avenues for enhanced cooperation. For this purpose, the study examines the following three categories related to the role of multilateral organizations in SSR support: normative frameworks, institutional capacities, and operational practices. This report was commissioned from DCAF by the Security Sector Reform Unit (SSRU) of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).
Topic:: Security, Human Rights, Peacekeeping, Reform, and Multilateralism
Political Geography:: Geneva, Africa, Europe, United Nations, European Union, and African Union

6. The role of parliaments in NATO member countries in advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda

Author:: Sarah Ferbach, Audrey Reeves, Callum Watson, and Léa Lehouck
Publication Date:: 01-2018
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Since 2007, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly has pursued an original and ground-breaking approach of mapping the distinctive contribution of its member parliaments to advancing the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda. Following on from previous reports in 2013 and in 2015, this study provides an up-to-date analysis of the 28 national responses to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly WPS survey in 2018. The main findings are as follows: 1. There was an increase in parliaments’ reported activity in the field of WPS, from 81% of respondents reporting some degree of involvement in 2015 to 100% in 2018. Countries with a National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security remain twice as active as countries without a NAP. 2. Of all participating delegations, 91% report that women recently occupied prominent functions related to peace and security in their parliament, thus contributing to enhancing women’s leadership in public debate on peace and security. 3. Parliamentary reports suggest that their engagement as legislative and oversight bodies has remained stable or slightly decreased in quantitative terms. Encouragingly, this engagement has nonetheless diversified in qualitative terms. Parliaments now report the development of legislation and resolutions on a greater variety of WPS themes and 36% mention using two or more monitoring mechanisms in overseeing the implementation of the WPS agenda, an increase from 24% in 2015. 4. Parliaments of NATO member countries have taken up NATO policy recommendations regarding dialogue with civil society organisations and cooperation with other NATO member states, with 17 delegations (61% of respondents) now reporting some activity in this area. The report includes full details and analysis of the survey responses as well as recommendations for parliaments in NATO member countries going forward.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Development, Gender Issues, Refugee Issues, Peacekeeping, Women, and Gender Based Violence
Political Geography:: Geneva, Europe, and United Nations

7. What does Turkey want in Syria and why?

Author:: Suat Kiniklioglu
Publication Date:: 01-2016
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This first paper in the DCAF-STRATIM paper series by Suat Kiniklioglu analyses the development of Turkey's policy towards Syria since the start of the Arab Uprisings. It illustrates the factors which contributed to the shift in Ankara's foreign policy focus towards Syria; from its role as the strongest advocate for regime change, to the sole focus on the prevention of a Kurdish consolidated geographical and political entity in Syria. The author describes how Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan and Ahmed Davutoǧlu saw the Arab Uprisings as a unique Turkish moment that could allow the country to regain its long-lost international grandeur. Ankara detected that the Muslim Brotherhood was on the rise in the region. In Tunisia, the Ennahda Movement; in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhvan); and in many other Middle Eastern countries - including Syria - Ikhvan-affiliated movements were on the march. The author concludes that, contrasting with the initial enthusiasm about a "Turkish Moment" when the Arab Uprisings erupted, Ankara will have to settle, it seems, for a much more modest outcome than originally envisaged in 2011.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Arab Spring, Military Intervention, and Syrian War
Political Geography:: Turkey, Middle East, Arab Countries, and Syria

8. The Complaint-Handling System and Civilian Oversight of the Palestinian Security Sector

Author:: Mahmoud Alawna, Nora-Elise Beck, Vlatko Cvrtila, Fatima Itawi, Saša Janković, Arnold Luethold, Frederic Maio, and Felix Tusa
Publication Date:: 08-2016
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This working paper aims to support the ongoing efforts of the Palestinian executive authorities, security forces, independent institutions, civil society organisations (CSOs) and the media to strengthen the Palestinian complaints system. It identifies deficits in the complaints system of the Palestinian security sector and proposes recommendations to rectify them. It particularly stresses the need to improve coordination between the vast number of complaints units and calls for greater clarity on the role of civil society and the media. It hopes to raise awareness for these issues among Palestinian decision-makers and citizens and international actors. When fully functioning, the complaint handling system can be an effective source of information for the government to improve its performance and develop its services. The paper builds upon the discussions of the complaints working group, consisting of Palestinian government officials and representatives of the security forces, civil society and the media. DCAF presented the recommendations to senior Palestinian decision-makers in late September 2016, providing these with cases of international best practice.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Human Rights, Governance, and Law Enforcement
Political Geography:: Geneva, Europe, Palestine, and West Bank

9. International Coherence in Security Sector Reform

Author:: Alan Bryden
Publication Date:: 01-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Calls for greater coherence in the international community's support for security sector reform (SSR) have become commonplace. This reflects frustration at the stovepiped contributions that frequently seem to characterise international SSR engagement. Perhaps more damaging, incoherent approaches may only be the visible symptom of a more profound problem – the inability or unwillingness of the international community to engage collectively with complex political dynamics when designing and implementing SSR programmes. The nexus between difficult SSR politics and incoherent SSR support has multiple dimensions. On the one hand, an SSR process may challenge (or reinforce) inequities in power relations that exclude certain groups and interests. Competing interests therefore provide a sub-text to any reform process. On the other hand, SSR assistance from external actors is itself highly political (and is certainly viewed as such by 'recipients'). This tension is reflected in harmful accusations that SSR represents a Trojan horse for the imposition of foreign values and influence. By failing to acknowledge these political sensitivities in SSR policies and programmes, external interventions can at best have a marginal impact on national security dynamics. This Horizon Paper therefore attempts to provide additional clarity to the concept of coherence and its utility in supporting more effective SSR.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Security, Intelligence, Peacekeeping, and Reform

10. Armed Non-State Actors: Current Trends Future Challenges

Publication Date:: 01-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Most of today's armed conflicts take place within states and are waged by at least one NSA fighting state forces and/or other NSAs. In these conflicts, frequent violations of humanitarian norms are committed by both state and non-state parties. NSAs also frequently control or heavily influence areas where civilians live. Consequently, efforts to protect civilian populations should address not only the behaviour of states, but also that of NSA.
Topic:: Security, Intelligence, Armed Struggle, and Non State Actors
Political Geography:: Geneva

11. Cyber Security: The Road Ahead

Author:: Theodor H. Winkler, Fred Schreier, and Barbara Weekes
Publication Date:: 01-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The open Internet has been a boon for humanity. It has not only allowed scientists, companies and entities of all sorts to become more effective and efficient. It has also enabled an unprecedented exchange of ideas, information, and culture amongst previously unconnected individuals and groups. It has completely revolutionized on a global scale how we do business, interact and communicate.
Topic:: Security, Intelligence, Science and Technology, and Communications
Political Geography:: Geneva

12. Private Military Security Companies: Future Challenges in Security Governance

Author:: Anne-Marie Buzatu and Benjamin S. Buckland
Publication Date:: 01-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Private military and security forces, in various forms, have been around for as long as there has been war and insecurity. In the fi rst and second centuries BC, Carthaginians used Numidian mercenaries, in the fifth century the Romans used Germanic mercenaries on their northern borders, the Byzantines hired the Spanish in the fourteenth century, the English used Prussian “Hessians” in the American War of Independence, and the Swiss Guard have been providing protective services to the Vatican since 1506. These forces were used by strong regional and local powers to safeguard or expand territory or other spheres of influence under their control.
Topic:: Security, Privatization, and Non State Actors
Political Geography:: Geneva

13. Democratic Governance Challenges of Cyber Security

Author:: Theodor H. Winkler, Fred Schreier, and Benjamin S. Buckland
Publication Date:: 01-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Cyber security encompasses borderless challenges, while responses remain overwhelmingly national in scope and even these are insufficient. There are enormous gaps in both our understanding of the issue, as well as in the technical and governance capabilities required to confront it. Furthermore, democratic governance concerns – particularly regarding control, oversight and transparency – have been almost entirely absent from the debate. These concerns are exacerbated by the enormous role played by private actors (both alone and in cooperation with governments) in online security of all types. Given the pace at which states and private companies are reinforcing online security and preparing for cyber war, addressing democratic governance concerns has never been more pressing. They are the primary subject of this paper.
Topic:: Security, Intelligence, Science and Technology, and Governance
Political Geography:: Geneva

14. The Privatisation of Security in Failing States: A Quantitative Assessment

Author:: Željko Branović
Publication Date:: 04-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Failing and collapsed states are a common marketplace for the private military industry, which has grown significantly in size and scope over the last decade. Today the private sector supplies a broad spectrum of military and security services to governments facing a lack of territorial control and law enforcement capacities. These services range from combat support to training for military and policing units, logistics and the protection of individuals and property. Yet a quantifiable picture of the extent to which these private security services are being used by failing or weak governments and the implications this use might have for the security environment has not been properly painted.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Cold War, and Fragile/Failed State
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, Iraq, and United Nations

15. Parliamentary War Powers: A Survey of 25 European Parliaments

Author:: Sandra Dieterich, Hartwig Hummel, and Stefan Marschall
Publication Date:: 12-2010
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This paper presents a survey of parliamentary 'war powers' based on a comprehensive and detailed review of the degrees and institutional forms of parliamentary involvement in military security policy-making. As our original research project focused on the involvement of European Union (EU) states in the recent Iraq war, we present data for the then 25 member and accession states of the EU as of early 2003. This survey of parliamentary war powers covers the legislative, budgetary, control, communicationrelated and dismissal powers of the respective parliaments relating to the use of military force. Referring to this data, we distinguish five classes of democratic nation-states, ranging from those with 'very strong' to those with only 'very weak' war powers of the respective national parliament.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Democratization, Governance, and Law
Political Geography:: Iraq and Europe

16. Measuring Security Sector Governance – A Guide to Relevant Indicators

Author:: Ursula C. Schroeder
Publication Date:: 01-2010
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The growing frequency and scope of externally supported security sector reform processes has sparked demand for tools to assess changes in security sector governance in states around the world. This paper takes a first small step towards this goal. By mapping the diverse indicator sets relevant for security sector governance, it provides an overview of currently available data about the quality of security provision and security sector governance among states. In its first part, the paper specifies its understanding of security sector governance and discusses the uses and limits of qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure security sector governance. The paper then provides a comprehensive overview of existing security- and governance-related indexes and assesses their contribution to measuring change in security sector governance over time and across cases. Finally, the paper's extensive 'source guide for security sector governance indicators' provides brief profiles of the discussed indicators and their data sources, and outlines variations in the scope, coverage and methodology of the various indicators
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Security, Defense Policy, and Governance
Political Geography:: United Nations

17. The Role of Penal Reform in Security Sector Reform

Author:: Megan Bastick
Publication Date:: 01-2010
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Penal reform activities have been carried on in Europe and the United States since at least the late eighteenth century. Security sector reform (SSR), a much newer concept, is a governance-driven approach that looks to strengthen the roles of both state and non-state actors to deliver security to individuals and communities. As such, attention to the penal system is important in any comprehensive SSR process. However, much SSR programming overlooks penal elements, and lessons learnt through long experience in penal reform have not been applied to other SSR activities. There is limited discourse between the penal reform community of practice and the wider SSR community.
Topic:: Security, Governance, Law, and Prisons/Penal Systems
Political Geography:: United States and Europe

18. Fighting the Pre-eminent Threats with Intelligence-led Operations

Author:: Fred Schreier
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This paper discusses the role of intelligence, intelligence services and intelligenceled operations as crucial components of the efforts to counter the new risks, dangers and threats to states and their population.
Topic:: Security, Cold War, Intelligence, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe and United Nations

19. Code of Conduct: Tool for Self-Regulation for Private Military and Security Companies

Author:: Nils Rosemann
Publication Date:: 01-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This study aims to illustrate patterns of behavioural rules derived from corporate obligations, and to deduce from these a draft Code of Conduct (CoC) for Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). The purpose of a Code of Conduct for Private Military and Security Companies is to oblige such companies to comply with international human rights standards and the norms of international humanitarian law (IHL), thus improving the protection of human rights. In addition to drawing up a CoC together with implementation and monitoring mechanisms, this study aims to list the requirements of the relevant industry on the one hand, as well as of the stakeholders in politics and civil society on the other. It will then compare the divergence between the two in order to assess the potential success of an initiative for the recognition of a CoC for Private Military and Security Companies. Finally, this study will draw up specific options of action and recommendations related to the process of adopting a CoC.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Security, and Human Rights
Political Geography:: Germany

20. The Challenges and Opportunities of Security Sector Reform in Post-conflict Liberia

Author:: Adedeji Ebo
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Liberia presents one of the most challenging contexts for post conflict reconstruction since the end of the Cold War, featuring a protracted civil war and the concomitant destruction of the state, society and economy. This Occasional Paper examines post conflict reconstruction in Liberia, with particular focus on the security sector. The paper argues that opportunities for security sector reform (SSR) are conditioned by the mutually reinforcing relationship between the state of security on the one hand, and the security of the state on the other. The prospects for stability and peacebuilding are enhanced by the extent to which SSR is predicated on the state of security broadly defined, as opposed to the narrower focus on the security of the state.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, and Development
Political Geography:: Africa and Liberia

21. Shaping a Security Governance Agenda in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding

Author:: Heiner Hänggi, Alan Bryden, and Timothy Donais
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The decision to create a United Nations Peacebuilding Commission demonstrates the international community's recognition of the need for further efforts to prevent the recurrence of conflict in fragile States. Indeed, there are still considerable gaps in the development of concepts, policies and practice that would facilitate post-conflict peacebuilding and make it more effective. One such gap lies in the security dimension of post-conflict peacebuilding. Applying a security governance approach to the range of security issues that must be addressed by both post-conflict societies and the international community – ranging from security sector reform (SSR) to disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) as well as rule of law and transitional justice – provides a means to better understand the opportunities for more effective and coordinated international efforts to build up efficient and accountable domestic capacity for the provision of security.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Peace Studies, and United Nations

22. The OSCE Between Crisis and Reform: Towards a New Lease on Life

Author:: Victor-Yves Ghébali
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: In the post-Cold War landscape of European security, four quite different type of multilateral institutions are operating with partially intersecting mandates: NATO, the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). As a direct offspring of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), or the Helsinki process, the OSCE certainly illustrates a most original creation of multilateral security diplomacy. Its institutional identity is characterised by a number of features which actually represent proper assets.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, and Development
Political Geography:: Europe

23. Identifying Lessons In United Nations International Policing Missions

Author:: Eirin Mobekk
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This paper gives an introduction to international policing operations and its key issues. It discusses the crucial challenges that face all international civilian police missions in United Nations peace operations, as well as the lessons learned and identified in the past decades of international policing. The challenges examined in this paper include addressing the security gap, applying an integrated approach to police, penal and judicial reform, all while paying heed to local justice mechanisms.
Topic:: Security, International Law, Peace Studies, and United Nations

24. Security Sector Governance in West Africa: Turning Principles to Practice

Author:: Alan Bryden, Boubacar N'Diaye, and 'Funmi Olonisakin
Publication Date:: 11-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: While other regions of Africa have had their share of crises, the challenge of meeting numerous security threats has been particularly arduous in West Africa. Nevertheless, there are unmistakable signs that the sub-region is beginning to fully awaken to the need to tackle its security crisis. This article argues that although the creation of democratic spaces in democratising states or complete rebuilding of collapsed states provides greater opportunities for security sector reform (SSR), democratisation does not necessarily lead to democratic governance of the security sector. To illustrate these points, a categorisation is proposed, classifying each West African state against a number of 'signposts' linked to security sector governance. A combination of norm-setting at the sub-regional level as well as activism in the non-governmental sector across the region is driving the move (even if slow and seemingly uncoordinated) toward improved governance, including in the security sector at the national level. However, the commitment of states to principles of good governance at the inter-governmental level does not naturally lead to corresponding change within the state. There is therefore a clear need to promote a security sector governance (SSG) agenda at both sub-regional and national levels in order to expand the space for meaningful SSR processes in West Africa.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Security, and Defense Policy
Political Geography:: Africa

25. Restoring Policing Systems in Conflict Torn Nations: Process, Problems, Prospects

Author:: Otwin Marenin
Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The goal of reconstructing policing systems which embody and embrace democratic norms has achieved an honoured place on the global security agenda. The need to secure minimal levels of security in transitional, developing, war-torn and post-conflict societies, and to keep local violence and conflicts from spilling over into regional arenas, has led to numerous efforts by international actors and donors to help local states and societies construct effective and fair public security systems. The paper examines efforts by the UN but also be regional organizations, NGOs, bilateral donors and domestic political and police actors to promote and structure reforms. Sufficient examples now exist to extract and suggest lessons on the process required to establish functioning and democratic policing systems. The paper will draw on existing academic literatures, reports by governments, international organizations and NGOs, and personal interactions with actors in this field to summarize what we know, and what we still lack information on, about how to plan for and implement the restoration of policing systems.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Security, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:: United Nations

26. The War on Terror - Security Sector Governance and Military Implications

Author:: Karl-Heinz Rambke
Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The topic of this conference, “The War on Terror and its Impact on Security Sector Governance and Society”, gives us the opportunity to engage in an intensive dialogue with participants from various countries and with different expertise. Let me briefly introduce my approach to this session. Since June 2003 I have been working at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, currently responsible as the Co-Director of the International Training Course on Security Policy training 30 participants from 23 different countries, amongst them two Russian participants. As our objective is to prepare the participants for international and national assignments in security policy branches, we are trying to create a fruitful balance between academic debates, concepts, practitioners' views and experiences and practical hands-on training. I would like to follow this approach today.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Terrorism, War, and Governance
Political Geography:: Russia

27. The New 'Double Challenge': Simultaneously Crafting Democratic Control and Efficacy Concerning Military, Police and Intelligence

Author:: Felipe Agüero
Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Military or security forces today are more likely to endanger democracy by lessening its quality and depth than by threatening its outright and swift overthrow. While the stability of new democracies is certainly not assured, the strongest concern lies with their ability to advance the rule of law and guarantee the basic liberties and needs of their citizens. In regard to the armed forces, the police, and intelligence agencies, new democracies are often poorly prepared to face up to a double challenge: developing firm institutions for the democratic control of those services, and turning them into effective tools for the protection and security of their citizens. The source of these difficulties is to be found not only in those services but also, and often primarily, in the inaction, complicit stance or active encouragement of non-democratic behavior by civilian actors in government or political society.
Topic:: Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Democratization, Government, and Intelligence

28. The Role of the Military in Elections

Author:: Mindia Vashakmadze
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Periodic and genuine elections based on universal and equal suffrage are a fundamental component of democratic society. It is recognised by the international community that all human beings should have the right to vote and to stand for election. Moreover, everyone has the right of equal access to public service. The inequality or discrimination based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status should be prohibited.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Democratization, and Politics

29. Privatising Security: Law, Practice and Governance of Private Military and Security Companies

Author:: Fred Schreier and Marina Caparini
Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The emergence and rapid growth of private military companies (PMCs) and private security companies (PSCs) in the 1990s followed from the downsizing of the armed forces in the aftermath of the Cold War and the development of many new conflicts which increased demand for military manpower and expertise. The redefinition of security strategies and the restructuring of armed forces by Western governments resulted in the elimination of non-core activities from the functions of many armed forces. These have increasingly been filled through various forms of alternative service delivery, in particular being outsourced to PMCs and PSCs.
Topic:: Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Civil Society, and Cold War

30. An Analytical Overview of Democratic Oversight and Governance of the Defence and Security Sector in Ukraine

Author:: Leonid Polyakov
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Since independence, the Ukraine has made progress in establishing a system of democratic civilian control over the Armed Forces. The regulatory-legal basis which governs the activity of security structures and which defines the different aspects of civil-military relations has basically been established. These regulatory-legal structures co-ordinate and oversee the activity of these security structures. Co-operation between different authorities in matter pertaining to the formation of the defence budget and the development of state programmes in the military sector is gradually improving. Ideological indoctrination has loosened its hold on Ukraine's security structures and democratic values are formally now the foundation of their activity.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:: Ukraine and Eastern Europe

31. New Trends in Policing in Western Europe: The Challenges for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author:: Dominique Wisler
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: While there is a wide consensus today on the basic principles of democratic policing there is no blueprint of international standards of policing or internationally accepted organisational scheme to which a police in transition looking for guidance could simply seek to conform. Beyond many differences originating from history and political regimes, what exists instead - and can serve as guidance - are best policing practices as well as trends in organising a police service. In fact, as I would like to argue, Western police are experiencing dramatic changes since two decades, changes that affect the organization and the practices profoundly. Police services are indeed reorganized using the conceptual framework of “processes and services” rather than the traditional silos of exclusive competencies between various police branches. Starting from services such as local security, rapid intervention, crowd control and the fight against serious, complex and organized criminality, the architecture of police forces is being remodelled by reformers. Judiciary competencies have ceased to be the basis of a rigid division between the judiciary police and the uniformed police, but, as we will see below, the uniformed police are tasked today with new competencies as a result of a process-oriented reorganisation. This led to a 180 degree shift in the policing architecture: once conceived vertically in hermetic silos of competencies, services are conceptualized more horizontally, process-oriented, cross-cutting competencies.
Topic:: Security, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:: Europe, Bosnia, and Herzegovina

32. The Process from Authoritarianism to Democracy in Spain: the Impact of the 1981 Failed Cup

Author:: José A. Olmeda
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new (Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter 6).
Topic:: Security, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:: Europe and Spain

33. Increasing Military Influence in Danish Civil-Military Relations

Author:: Henning Sørensen
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This chapter pursues developments of Danish civil-military relations to identify changes in the degree of military influence. Two case studies are put forward. The first case deals with long-term change processes in the field of civil-military relations. In this case study, four major areas are investigated: the personnel composition of the Danish defence, its expenditures per capita, its organisational structure, and military participation in defence commissions. Changes in all four areas are pursued over the last-half century revealing increased military influence in Danish civil-military relations. A striking indicator of this development is the case of top military disobedience in 2001, which constitutes the second case study entitled 'Military disobedience of the Danish defence commander'. The consequences of the major military influence for three actors: 'politicians', 'media', and the 'armed forces' are discussed and it is argued that neither of them gains from the increased military influence, not even the professional soldiers. The reported extreme of military behaviour contrasts many examples of military respectful democratic decision-making. Reasons for the military disobedience may be explained by the distinction 'to have' or 'to exercise' democratic control, where the former is the proper type of democratic control of the armed forces and not the latter as wrongfully perceived by the former Danish Joint Chief of Staff (JCS).
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, and Development
Political Geography:: Europe

34. Providing Security. The Division of Labour. Armed Forces, Gendarmerie, Police

Author:: Alain Faupin
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This topic is quite uneasy as the security tasks of all three organizations, namely armed forces, police and gendarmerie, are either very different, or very intermingled. The only common point is the primacy of the civilian authority, a rule of good governance and of democracy scrupulously applied and overseen.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Government, and Governance
Political Geography:: Europe

35. Police and Gendarmerie Reform in Belgium: from Force to Service

Author:: Denis Bergmans
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: It is for me, as a representative of the Gendar merie, the Belgian federal police, a great honour to be invited as a speaker for this seminar.
Topic:: Security, Development, and Education
Political Geography:: Europe and Belgium

36. Convergence of European Security Systems

Author:: Willem van Eekelen
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The decision of the European Council to start negotiations in 2005 for the entry of Turkey into the European Union constituted an important landmark in a long-term process, ongoing since 1963. This decision concerned full membership and not some lesser special relationship and made clear that Turkey would not be treated differently from other candidates for EU membership. Both sides recognised that the negotiations will take considerable time during which attention will be given to a monitoring process.
Topic:: Security, NATO, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: Europe and Turkey

37. The Catalysts, Directions and Focus on Turkey Agenda for Security Sector Reform in the 21st Century

Author:: Ümit Cizre
Publication Date:: 11-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This paper addresses three questions regarding Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Turkey: First, under what objectives of the SSR concept does the discussion of the Security Sector Reform in Turkey fall, or, put differently, what is the relevance of the post-Cold War SSR agenda-–coming as a response to Western reorientation of security priorities–for the reform of the guiding principles, structures, and operations of security institutions in Turkey? The second query concerns the nature of SSR in Turkey, problems contained therein, and its impact on the system, if not on the country's chances for accession to the EU, and on the civil-military equilibrium in the new millennium. The final question explores the lessons to be learned from the objectives and trajectories of Turkey's SSR agenda. These questions, and corresponding answers, will be organized in the following five sections.
Topic:: Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Cold War, and Politics
Political Geography:: Turkey and Eastern Europe

38. Strengthening International Arms Control/Disarmament Regimes and the Democratic Oversight and Reform of the Security Sector

Author:: Philipp H. Fluri
Publication Date:: 11-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The effort to universally promote and apply multilateral disarmament and arms control treaties requires public understanding of the contribution of such treaties to international security. All too often specialized knowledge of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation treaties remains concentrated with the executive and a few specialized departments of the Ministries of Defense or Foreign Affairs: whilst parliamentarians and the public remain largely ignorant about them. However, without either comprehensively informed and committed parliamentary oversight and guidance, or scrutiny by an empowered civil society, arms control and disarmament treaties will neither be sufficiently understood nor successfully implemented.
Topic:: Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Civil Society, and Politics
Political Geography:: Europe

39. Challenges of Security Sector Governance in Kuwait

Author:: Ghanim Al-Najjar
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The security apparatus in Kuwait is divided into three main institutions, namely the Army, the Police, and the National Guard. The division of labour amongst the three institutions is clear. While the army is re sponsible for external defence duties (since offensive war is prohibited by the Constitution), the police are responsible for internal security, and the National Guard is responsible for providing emergency and supporting duties. According to the Constitution, the army is headed by the Amir (the Head of State) being the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, while in reality the army is headed by the Minister of De fence who is currently Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Alsabah, and operationally headed by the Chief-of-Staff Fahad Alamir. Although the military side of the army is run on a daily basis by the military staff, the Ministry of Defence that is basically civilian in its composition has a major impact on any work and decision-making that affects army affairs. The police on the other hand are completely administered through the Ministry of the Interior; the current Minister of the Interior is Sheikh Nawwaf Alahmad Alsabah. The currently Under-Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior is Nasser Alothman and he is assisted by seven Assistant Under-Secretary's for administering the daily operations of the police. Six out of the seven Under-Secretaries are police officers. Almost 90% of the top management of the Ministry of the Interior is made up of police officers, and this situation differs greatly from the state of affairs that is to be found in the Ministry of Defence. The National Guard is an independent institution of the Armed Forces, which reports directly to the Supreme Council of Defence, which is headed by a senior sheikh (currently Sheikh Salim Alali Alsabah and his deputy Sheikh Mishal Alahmad Alsabah).
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Defense Policy, and Governance
Political Geography:: Middle East and Kuwait

40. Security Sector Transformation in Afghanistan

Author:: Mark Sedra
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The U.S.-led Coalition's swift victory over the Taliban regime in October 2001 created a security vacuum across Afghanistan that the international community was unprepared to fill. Winning the peace in Afghanistan has proven to be a much more complex, costly, and protracted endeavour than winning the war, an imposing burden that has severely tested the resolve of the international donor community. With only 11,000-13,000 Coalition troops mandated to eradicate the last remnants of al-Qaeda an the Taliban in the south and a limited NATO presence of 6,000 troops deployed in the capital to insulate the fledgling political process, the onus for maintaining security in the country fell on the Afghan government and its fledgling security forces. After 23 years of civil war the country's security sector was in a state of disarray, its infrastructure destroyed, resources limited, and facing a shortage of human capacity. To bolster Afghanistan's beleaguered security institutions and ensure they conform to international standards, the major donors engaged in the country launched a security sector reform (SSR) process. Security sector transformation rather than reform seems more appropriate to describe the task of creating efficient, effective, and democratically accountable security forces in Afghanistan, for the bulk of the country's formal security apparatus ceased to function over a decade ago. In spite of the massive challenges that face program, it has been portrayed as the primary means to redress Afghanistan's immediate security woes. What by its very nature is a gradual, long-term process has been thrust into the position as short-term panacea.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and NATO
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, United States, Middle East, and Taliban

41. Challenges to Security Sector Governance in the Middle East: the Libyan Case

Author:: Hanspeter Mattes
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The U.S.-led Coalition's swift victory over the Taliban regime in October 2001 created a security vacuum across Afghanistan that the international community was unprepared to fill. Winning the peace in Afghanistan has proven to be a much more complex, costly, and protracted endeavour than winning the war, an imposing burden that has severely tested the resolve of the international donor community. With only 11,000-13,000 Coalition troops mandated to eradicate the last remnants of al-Qaeda an the Taliban in the south and a limited NATO presence of 6,000 troops deployed in the capital to insulate the fledgling political process, the onus for maintaining security in the country fell on the Afghan government and its fledgling security forces. After 23 years of civil war the country's security sector was in a state of disarray, its infrastructure destroyed, resources limited, and facing a shortage of human capacity. To bolster Afghanistan's beleaguered security institutions and ensure they conform to international standards, the major donors engaged in the country launched a security sector reform (SSR) process. Security sector transformation rather than reform seems more appropriate to describe the task of creating efficient, effective, and democratically accountable security forces in Afghanistan, for the bulk of the country's formal security apparatus ceased to function over a decade ago. In spite of the massive challenges that face program, it has been portrayed as the primary means to redress Afghanistan's immediate security woes. What by its very nature is a gradual, long-term process has been thrust into the position as short-term panacea.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:: Africa and Libya

42. The Saudi Security Apparatus: Military and Security Services - Challenges and Developments

Author:: Anthony H. Cordesman and Nawaf Obaid
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Both Saudi Arabia's security situation, and the Saudi security apparatus, are undergoing major changes. Saudi Arabia no longer faces a major threat from Iraq, but must deal with the growing risk that Iran will become a nuclear power. This confronts Saudi Arabia with hard strategic choices as to whether to ignore Iran's efforts to proliferate, seek US military assistance in deterring Iran and possibly in some form of missile defense, or to acquire more modern missiles and its own weapons of mass destruction.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Development, and Terrorism
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, Iran, Middle East, and Arabia

43. Iran's Security Sector: An Overview

Author:: Wilfried Buchta
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The intention of this paper is to give an overview of the internal structure of the security sector of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), one of the few states in the Islamic world in which in general the security sector is submitted to the control of the civilian leadership. This paper will not deal with the issues of WMD, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran's open and covert support for militant Islamic groups abroad, the system's fight against exiled militant opposition groups or Tehran's policy towards Iraq prior to and after the US invasion, although some aspects of the security sectors' tasks are connected to these issues. Instead the paper will focus on the relationship between civilian leadership and the influential heads of the different branches of the security sector, a relationship which is extremely complex and often defies explanation. Therefore it is vital to offer some explanatory remarks on the overall political structure of the system and its main features.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Islam, and Terrorism
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, Iran, Middle East, and Israel

44. Jordanian Security Sector Governance: Between Theory and Practice

Author:: Nawaf Tell
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The security sector has played a vital role in the establishment and the survival of the Jordanian State ever since its creation in the early 1920s. The function of Jordan's security sector has varied and evolved over time depending on both the domestic and the regional considerations. Indeed, from enforcing state authority within the state in the early stages of the Jordanian State, the security sector has now moved to protecting the sovereign integrity of Jordan and maintaining the country's stability in the shadow of regional upheavals.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Politics, and Governance
Political Geography:: Middle East

45. The Best Papers from the 2003 DCAF-IISS Young Faces Conference

Author:: Nicu Popescu, Margareta Mamaliga, and Ivan Zverzhanovski
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Following a decade of devastating conflicts, the countries of South Eastern Europe have now intensified their efforts to reform the security sector, foster security cooperation in the region and move more swiftly towards the membership in Euro-Atlantic integrations. Beyond any doubt, to succeed in these efforts, the whole region will have to develop and heavily rely upon a new generation of civilian security and defence experts.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and Defense Policy
Political Geography:: Europe

46. Democratic Decision-Making and Deployments:The Case of the Netherland's Peacekeepers in Srebenica and Iraq

Author:: René Moelker
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The question posed in this paper is whether the lessons learned from Srebrenica and the experiences of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) have led to a cultural change in civil-military relations. To demonstrate evidence of cultural change the decision-making process during this period was studied. The decision-making process at the time of UNPROFOR is exemplary of a clash between military and civilian cultures. After a parliamentary inquiry into Srebrenica, decision-making procedures regarding deployments were improved by use of a set of criteria called the 'Toetsingskader'. Parliamentarians use these criteria to question the government about many important issues regarding deployment. The criteria were adequately applied to the deployment in Ethiopia and Eritrea, however, Ethiopia and Eritrea was a 'classical' first generation peacekeeping situation, which perhaps made it easier to apply the criteria for decisionmaking. The criteria in the 'Toetsingskader' were put to a more severe test in the decision-making process regarding participation in the Stabilisation Force Iraq (SFIR) in 2003. On the one hand, the 'Toetsingskader' proved to be a useful tool for parliamentary control, being able to bridge the gap between military and civilian political culture. On the other hand, the risk of teleological reasoning remains. The criteria can easily be used to justify participation by rationalising goals of the deployment and/or ignoring critical questions.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:: Iraq, Middle East, and Netherlands

47. Adaptation of Security Structures to Contemporary Threats

Author:: Theodor H. Winkler
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: International security has entered into a period of profound change. This process was initiated by the end of the Cold War and its rigid, yet stable bipolar power structures. It was further accelerated by the attacks of 11 September 2001 as well as the US war against Iraq. This new security environment is bound to require a no less profound corresponding reform of the security sector and renders the principle of good governance of the security sector even more imperative.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and NATO
Political Geography:: Europe and United Nations

48. Watching the Watchdogs: The Role of the Media in Intelligence Oversight in Germany

Author:: Antje Fritz
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Free media and unhampered and impartial journalism are crucial elements of any democracy. Journalists provide the information which a society needs to debate current policies, public issues, societal threats, the potential failings of its institutions as well as necessary reforms. In so doing, journalism fulfils a major democratic function, which includes, as a crucial responsibility, the duty to make issues transparent and therefore to help citizens to gain information about and exert oversight of the state's executive bodies (Ward 2004). But even if those pre-conditions are satisfied, some societal areas, especially those which concern security related issues, tend to resist efforts to provide transparency and public oversight. This is especially the case when intelligence services and intelligence related issues are involved.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: Germany

49. Under Pressure. Falintil - Forças de Defesa de Timor Leste. Three Decades of Defence Force in Timor Leste: 1975-2004

Author:: Edward Rees
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Timor Leste is faced with a major challenge in consolidating its nascent democracy, this being the overdue establishment of a national security framework supported by legislation. In conjunction, civilian oversight and management structures for the security sector are weak to non-existent in Timor Leste. This is most pronounced in the case of Timor Leste's defence force and police services, and especially so in those areas where their responsibilities overlap. A major obstacle to overcoming this challenge are political divisions that exist between those who identify themselves as being “veterans of the resistance” to Indonesia's occupation 1975-99. The role of veterans dominates the country's political equation from the villages to the capitol. These divisions are manifested in the ill-advised and ongoing creation of the state's security institutions. That the United Nations' security forces' withdrawal from Timor Leste will be complete in May 2004 underscores the pressing nature of this problem. The below paper will examine the development of the defence force with some allusion to the police services. I will view the development of defence forces from the inception of an indigenous armed force in 1975.
Topic:: Security, Government, Peace Studies, and Politics
Political Geography:: Indonesia

50. Ukrainian Democratic Development and Euro-Atlantic Integration: A Natural Convergence, But A Difficult Path

Author:: James Green
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: For over a thousand years, Ukraine\'s national strength and independence has been linked to democratic self-governance. In the Kyiv Rus, popular assemblies called \'vetches\' elected representatives and provided popular input into governmental policy. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Cossack hetman and foremen were elected by the Cossack Radas, which also debated and approved government policies. Beginning in the 14th century and lasting until the early 19th century, many Ukrainian towns and cities – Lviv, Kyiv, Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr, Chernigiv, Glukhov, Lubny, Poltava – flourished under the political and economic self-government provided by Magdeburg Law, which offered liberation from feudal duties, the election of city authorities, and rule of law. This link continues to the present; the modern Ukrainian state was born out of the convergence of movements for national independence and democracy that brought down the Soviet Union. Although neither of these attributes is yet fully consolidated in the young Ukrainian state, the country\'s best hope for success lies in its democratic elements: a system, albeit imperfect, of electing government officials and legislators, elements within the judiciary willing to uphold human rights and the rule of law, journalists and editors willing to take risks to report the truth, non-governmental organizations that provide a means for citizens to mobilize in order to advance their common interests.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and Government
Political Geography:: Europe, Ukraine, and Soviet Union

51. NATO Membership Is A Realistic Goal If Ukraine Shows Courage And Resolve

Author:: James Green
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: For many Ukrainians today, the possibility of membership in NATO seems like a far-off dream. Yet ten years ago this January, when NATO Heads of State meeting in Brussels confirmed the Alliance's openness to “democratic states to our East,” the goal of NATO membership must have seemed just as unreal to the populations of other Eastern and Central European countries. Who could imagine that a Romania just beginning to recover from the political and economic devastation wrought by Ceausescu's misrule could possibly meet the “principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law” set forth in the North Atlantic Treaty? That NATO would cross Russia's 'red line' and invite the former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to join the Alliance? Or that the Alliance would accept the candidacy of Bulgaria, considered by many in the Soviet Union as the 'Sixteenth Republic'? Yet all these nations, plus Slovakia and Slovenia, will be joining NATO in June 2004 at the Istanbul Summit. Added to Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which joined the Alliance at the Washington Summit in 1999, ten Central and Eastern European countries will have joined NATO in the ten years since the Brussels Summit. The success of these Eastern and Central European countries in overcoming scepticism, pessimism, and the burden of their difficult histories – and in the process transforming themselves from post-communist societies into members of the community of Euro-Atlantic democracies – is proof that far-off dreams can come true if a nation's leaders have clear political vision and will, supported by a systematic and resolute approach to implementing reforms.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and NATO
Political Geography:: Europe, Washington, and Ukraine

52. Vision Of A New Hungarian Intelligence Architecture

Author:: Tibor Babos
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Hungary has come a long way. The National Assembly has effectively developed oversight of the military through budget, approval of the Basic Principles of National Defense and the Defense Bill, and deployment of the Armed Forces. The Constitutional Court has effectively addressed the problems caused by the October 1989 Constitution and 1 December 1989 Defense Reform; and its decisions have been respected. The military has evidenced significant reform; it has been restructured to accommodate NATO, but force modernization continues to be greatly restrained by scarce resources. But Hungary still has a number of tasks to achieve effective civilian oversight.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and NATO
Political Geography:: Europe

53. Democratic Control of Armed Forces in Military Interventions: A Challenge to Global Governance

Author:: Herbert Wulf
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Since the end of the Cold War, numerous developments have significantly changed the position of the armed forces. Firstly among these developments is the fact that the vast majority of wars are no longer fought between states. Rather, today's wars and violent conflicts tend to have mostly inner societal causes (Kaldor 2001). Additionally, the observation of present day realities, especially in big urban centres of the world, shows that more people die from the day-to-day exertion of criminal violence than from warrelated causes. Inner-societal insecurity and violent conflict sometimes leads to the international community turning to military means to control and pacify the areas concerned.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:: United Nations

54. Civil Society, Democracy and the Law

Author:: Ian Leigh
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This paper first discusses the meaning of civil society and, in particular, its strengths and limitations. The second section considers what civil society can add to the representative democratic process. In the remaining sections, I discuss how civil society interacts with the law in a democratic state. There are two distinct aspects to this. Firstly, there are the legal and constitutional pre-conditions that allow civil society to flourish. These include issues about group autonomy, freedom of the press and of protest, including the place of civil disobedience. Secondly, there are the specific ways in which civil society can use the legal process to further its ends.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:: Europe

55. Who Builds Civil Society? Civil Society, Mass Media and Democracy in Post-Communist Countries

Author:: Dušan Reljic
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Media are often acclaimed as the "fourth power" in a democracy. They are hailed as the "watch-dogs" of democracy. As an integral force of civil society, the mass media is expected to play a prominent role in controlling the parliament, the government and the judiciary, in investigating whether private industrial and financial interests respect the law, sounding the alarm if the environment is polluted, and engaging in conflict prevention and resolution. Mass media are omnipresent in modern times. Perhaps, therefore, people expect omnipotence from the media.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Communism, and Democratization

56. Civil Society and Democratic Oversight of the Security Sector: A Preliminary Investigation

Author:: Marina Caparini
Publication Date:: 01-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Civil society has become a popular term in academic, policy and foreign assistance circles. A significant body of literature and research has developed around the concept, and its key role in consolidating and sustaining democracy is now widely recognised by academics and policy-makers alike. Successive waves of democratisation in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe have led experts to view civil society as a crucial agent for limiting authoritarian government, strengthening the empowerment of the people, and enforcing political accountability. It is considered a crucial factor in improving the quality and inclusiveness of governance.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Civil Society, and Democratization
Political Geography:: Europe and Latin America

57. Law - Enforcement: Creating and Maintaining a Police Service in a Post - Conflict Society - Problems and Pitfalls

Author:: Eirin Mobekk
Publication Date:: 11-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The police service of East Timor, Policia Nacional de Timor-Leste (PNTL), was formally established on 10 August 2001 by UNTAET Regulation 2001/22. It was initially know as East Timor Police Service (ETPS), later this was changed to Timor- Leste Police Service (TLPS), it is now referred to as PNTL, which is what will be used throughout this paper. The creation of the police service came about as a result of Indonesia's withdrawal from East Timor in 1999, after 24 years of occupation after a ballot where 78.5% voted for independence. Up until that time East Timor had been policed by a foreign state. It had never had its own separate police force.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Indonesia and Southeast Asia

58. Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in a Post-Conflict Context

Author:: Eirin Mobekk
Publication Date:: 11-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: When the Indonesian government agreed to hold the ballot of independence in East Timor in August 1999, it led to a cascade of violence throughout the pre-ballot period by pro-integration militias and Indonesian security forces. The violence that was perpetrated in East Timor in 1999 has been defined as crimes against humanity. It included murder, rape, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment. After the result of the ballot was announced the violence accelerated out of control. The number of dead is estimated to be between 1,300 and 1,500, most of the population was displaced and 70% of the infrastructure destroyed. Re-construction, re-building and reconciliation were now on the agenda.
Topic:: Security, Human Welfare, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:: Asia

59. Development Donors and the Concept of Security Sector Reform

Author:: Michael Brzoska
Publication Date:: 11-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The purpose of this paper is to provide a survey of current discussion on 'security sector reform'. Created only in the late 1990s, the term has spread rapidly in international discourses. It is now used in a number of contexts, ranging from its origin in the development donor community2 and to debate on reform in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe to changes in the major industrialised countries of Western Europe (Winkler, 2002). That the term is used widely suggests that the time was ripe for it. It would seem obvious that there was a need to find a new term for a plethora of phenomena and activities related to reform of the sector of society charged with the provision of security.
Topic:: Security, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:: Europe

60. DCAF Security Sector Governance Status Report and Needs Assessment on Timor Leste

Author:: Philipp H. Fluri
Publication Date:: 09-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The DCAF Security Sector Governance Status Report and Needs Assessment on Timor- Leste was planned and implemented on the initiative and on behalf of the Foreign Minister of Switzerland Madame Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Development, and Government

61. The Parliamentary Dimension of Security Sector Reform

Author:: Willem F. van Eekelen
Publication Date:: 08-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The term security sector reform is in fashion because it recognises the need for adaptation to changed circumstances after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the emergence of fanatical terrorism, without being precise about its vast agenda. In the report 2003 of the Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly defence sector reform was defined as the reorientation away from Cold War structures of armed forces and defence establishments through reorganisation, restructuring and downsizing in order to meet the demands of the new security environment. It is a challenge that all countries - Alliance and partners alike - have had to confront. However, the need has been particularly acute for the countries of central and eastern Europe because of the military legacy many of these countries inherited and the dire straits of many of their economies.
Topic:: Security, NATO, Civil Society, and Politics
Political Geography:: Europe

62. Civilian Control or Civilian Command?

Author:: Louis L. Boros
Publication Date:: 08-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Nearly all nations recognize and acknowledge the need for national defence and hence the need for national armed forces. However, the existence of armed forces also causes problems for every government, since, as Mao Tse-Tung so aptly put it, power comes from the barrel of a gun. One of the concerns of government, therefore, is how to ensure, that the political will remains in civilian hands. As we know, history has shown that this concern is both legitimate and well founded, since militaries have repeatedly seized control of government in many parts and nations of the world. (It has also been generally true, that military-led governments have not been exceptionally successful in running the government, regulating the economy, or solving social issues). Thus, a debate arises about the degree to which civilian leaders should control, or command the armed forces.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Economics, and Politics

63. Before and After 1998 - A Romanian Short History

Author:: Mircea Plangu
Publication Date:: 08-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Bitter impressions can be presumed if we are to acknowledge that society is somehow divided into two categories: military and civilians, or vice-versa. Or if we understand that the civilians involved in security policy are a scarce resource. Reading about the concept, we can perceive hints about some obstacles existent in the activity of civilians at the interface with their military colleagues.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, and Government
Political Geography:: Europe

64. The Role of Civilians in National Security Structures - The Bulgarian Experience

Author:: Velizar Shalamanov
Publication Date:: 08-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The strengthening of the democratic and civilian control of the security sector has been an important policy issue on the agenda of the international community throughout the last decade. A key dimension in this respect is the role of civilians in the formulation and conduct of national security policy.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, and Government
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe and Bulgaria

65. The Role of Civilians in Security and Defence Policy Making - The Case of the Czech Republic

Author:: Marie Vlachová
Publication Date:: 08-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Formal and institutional framework of democratic control of armed forces has been installed in the Czech Republic – roles, responsibilities and powers of security sector institutions/actors are determined by law.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, and Government
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe and Czech Republic

66. Comparing Frameworks of Parliamentary Oversight: Poland, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine

Author:: David Betz
Publication Date:: 07-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: It is a truism that the nature and limits of parliamentary oversight in any state are determined by the constitutional and political structure unique to that state. That is to say, a state's constitutional and political “framework of legislative oversight” ultimately constrains the extent to which its parliamentarians may regulate their defence establishment. In some countries, parliament has the legal wherewithal to exert a high degree of scrutiny and control over developments in the defence sector. In others, parliaments possess only limited legal prerogatives in this respect because the executive dominates the defence sector.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Civil Society, and Government
Political Geography:: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Hungary

67. Monitoring of the Norwegian Secret Services

Author:: Leif Mevik
Publication Date:: 05-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: In Norway, monitoring of the secret services (EOS services) is carried out by a parliamentary monitoring body, the Committee for Monitoring of Intelligence, Surveillance and Security Services. The Committee conducts continuous monitoring of the Norwegian Police Security Service, the Norwegian Intelligence Service and the Norwegian National Security Authority (NoNSA). The monitoring arrangement is independent of the EOS services and the remainder of the administration. The Committee's members are elected by the Storting (the Norwegian parliament), and the Committee reports to the Storting annually. The arrangement was established in 1996. The continuous monitoring takes the form of regular inspections of the secret services. The Committee also deals with complaints from private individuals and organizations that believe the secret services have committed injustices against them.
Topic:: Security, Government, and Human Rights
Political Geography:: Europe

68. The Integration of Women into the Czech Armed Forces

Author:: Marie Vlachová
Publication Date:: 05-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: In the mid-1980s, only three per cent of Czechoslovak women served in the professional corps. By the turn of the millennium, their number had increased to ten per cent. The process of a slow, but steady integration of women into the Czechoslovak/Czech armed forces, its present state and future perspectives are described in this study.
Topic:: Security, Gender Issues, and Government
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe

69. The Professionalisation of the Czech Armed Forces

Author:: Marie Vlachová
Publication Date:: 05-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Throughout modern history, the fate of the Czech nation has always been determined by politicians and not the armed forces. Czech soldiers have seldom fought for "their cause", i.e. one with which they are able to identify fully. The existence of Czechoslovakia's pre-war army, which was supposed to guarantee national sovereignty, was too short-lived, ending unimpressively when the political representation decided to demobilize prior to the country's occupation by the Nazis. The First Republic tradition was not sufficient to overcome widespread anti-military sentiments, which were personified by the infamous Czech literary character known as "Soldier Shweik" - whose origins lie in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the Communist era, most people were unable to identify with a fight against imperialism, that was designed by the Communist regime as the main reason for compulsory service in the military. The fact that the army stayed away from the public resistance to the 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces, only exacerbated the common perception that the military was no more than an obedient instrument of the Soviet Union's power politics. Even after the collapse of communism, doubts about the necessity to have an army persisted within Czech society. After November 1989, the armed forces drifted from the public.s and politician.s centre of attention for a short time. However, once it became apparent that the army would not intervene in the political transformation process; both the population and the new political representation shifted their focus towards political, economic, and also social issues.
Topic:: Security, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe and Czech Republic

70. Democratic Control of Security and Intelligence Services: A Legal Framework

Author:: Ian Leigh
Publication Date:: 05-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This paper is a contribution to a continuing project of the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF): to provide a map or 'matrix' of legal norms to govern security sector reform. Previous contributions have addressed civil-military relations and work remains to be done on policing. The focus here is on the implications of this approach for the norms governing security and intelligence agencies.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: Geneva

71. Management of National Security Sector - Bulgarian Experience

Author:: Anyu Angelov
Publication Date:: 03-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The notion of national security could be perceived in a narrow meaning or in an exceptionally broad meaning. Using this term in broader sense creates opportunities of binding mutually the functions and the responsibilities of almost all state institutions, local administration and municipalities in almost all spheres of public life. But such a perception hides a danger of dilution and chaotic shift of responsibilities between agencies for some of their paramount activities. And sometimes the broader sense could mislead even governments in their decision-making process. Let me give you a brand new Bulgarian example. Recently the Supreme Administrative Court stopped temporarily one of the biggest privatisation deals- those on Bulgarian tobacco holding known as "Bulgartabac". Striving for acceleration of the privatisation process and finding no other opportunity to overrule the court's decision about a concrete buyer, the government passed a bill, in which only the parliament is authorised to make decisions on the privatisation of fifteen of the biggest state companies, among them Bulgarian Tоbacco Holding, Bulgarian Railways, Bulgarian Airlines. Those decisions cannot be protested by the prosecution and overruled by the court. The only motivation of such exclusive procedure was the "exceptional importance of these companies for the national security". The bill was adopted by the National Assembly with shake majority, but was vetoed by the President.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and Government
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe and Bulgaria

72. Oversight and Guidance: the Relevance of Parliamentary Oversight for Security Sector Reform

Author:: Hans Born and Philip Fluri
Publication Date:: 03-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: There is a widespread belief that security policy is a 'natural' task for the executive as they have the requisite knowledge and ability to act quickly. The decision to go to war, to contribute troops to multinational peace support operations, to conclude international treaties or to raise defence spending, to mention just some of the most important governmental security responsibilities, are regarded to be executive decisions. The stubborn perception exists that parliaments should be kept out of these decisions. Parliament tends to be regarded as a less suitable institution for dealing with security issues, especially given its often time-consuming procedures and lack of full access to the necessary expertise and information. Additionally, parliaments are regarded as ill-suited institutions for keeping classified information secret. However, this is a misperception. The past teaches us that parliaments do play a major role in matters of security in democratic states, both in times of war and peace. In the times of the Roman Republic, the Dutch Republic in the sixteenth century, Great Britain in the Second World War, or, more recently at the outbreak of the Second Gulf War, Parliaments across the globe have debated, influenced and exercised oversight over security policy and security sector reform, even in the middle of war.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and Government
Political Geography:: Europe, Romania, and Dutch

73. Parliamentary Control of Security Policy - The Experience of Poland

Author:: Agnieszka Gogolewska
Publication Date:: 02-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: In representative democracies, parliaments play a crucial, albeit sometimes neglected or underestimated role in assuring a proper functioning of the democratic civilian control of the security sector. In that sense, parliaments represent an important link in the chain of democratic institutions exercising such control. It would be wrong however to assume that the controlling functions of the legislatures are realised in much the same way as the executive or civilian bureaucracy exercises them. In democratic systems parliaments are an institutional expression of popular legitimacy and accountability, therefore their controlling role is more general and principle-driven that is the case of other institutions, directly responsible for managing security sector.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Government, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:: Poland

74. Officer Career Management in a Peacetime Democracy

Author:: Jack Petri
Publication Date:: 02-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: I have been asked to present brief comments on the subject of officer career management in a peacetime democracy. As I have spent much of my 30-year military career involved either directly or indirectly in the management of officers in a democracy (mostly in peace, but also in war), I am very happy to be able to share my thoughts and experience with you today.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, Government, and Peace Studies

75. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Chapter: Central Asia

Author:: Philipp Fluri
Publication Date:: 02-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Unlike in many other developing countries on the way to democracy, the military plays a more limited role than other security providers, notably the Ministry of the Interior whose forces are much more powerful than the military and have their own armed units. They pose the greater potential threat to security and stability, and thus form a graver potential impediment to economic and political reform than the military. Whereas the economic, social and even some of the defence systems in the post-Soviet republics have gone through reforms, the forces and institutional structures of the Ministries of the Interior have remained more or less the same; change has occurred only in their size which again does not imply larger or more transparent budgets.
Topic:: Security, Government, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:: Central Asia

76. Former Soviet Union: Security Sector Reform in the Southern Caucasus

Author:: Philipp Fluri
Publication Date:: 02-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The countries of the Southern Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) experienced seventy years of one-party centralized management of the security sector – a heritage they share with all other former Soviet Republics (though precise time spans vary). Independent state-building can be expected to be slow, and it has further been vexed by armed conflicts which are far from being permanently settled and which have led to considerable numbers of IDPs and refugees in Georgia and Azerbaijan. This specific situation has naturally slowed the build-up of security sectors much different from the local post-Soviet replica of the once union-wide complex of security services.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and Government
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia

77. Control and Oversight of Security Intelligence in Romania

Author:: Larry Watts
Publication Date:: 02-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: According to March 2002 poll, 60% of the Romanian population believe that their intelligence services – in particular the SRI (Serviciul roman de informatii – domestic security intelligence) and the SIE (Serviciul de informatii externe – foreign intelligence) – have been “transformed into democratic institutions on the western model.” 52% believe that the services are serving national interests in a politically-neutral fashion as opposed to partisan aims of the sitting government (32%), and 55% had a generally “good opinion” concerning their performance. 73% of the population believes that the services do not have too much power, and half of those believe they have too little power, while 74% believe that intelligence specialists remaining from before 1989 – about 15% of the SRI and 18% of the SIE – should be retained. Periodic polling by other agencies regularly rank the SRI just behind the church and the army, and ahead of the government and police, in terms of public trust.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and Government
Political Geography:: Romania

78. New Constitutional Position of the Army

Author:: Miroslav Hadzic
Publication Date:: 02-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Unwilling to establish the principles of future relations in the joint state, the heads of the Federal, Serbian, and Montenegrin authorities, after being pressured by the European Union (EU), finally signed the Belgrade Agreement. Afterwards, they began to draft the Constitutional Charter of the joint state of Serbia and Montenegro. The entire project is based upon the supposition that this supra-national creation will only have delegated powers agreed to by member states. This infers that the Union will not have original sovereignty; rather Serbia and Montenegro will have it. The implementation of this solution will sever all ties with the federal organization of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and its predecessors, only simplifying matters, as Montenegro has already unilaterally excluded itself from the authority of federal bodies, and in that way, has practically abolished this state.
Topic:: Security, Development, and Government
Political Geography:: Serbia and Montenegro

79. Practical Confidence-Building Measures: Does Good Governance of the Security Sector Matter?

Author:: Heiner Hänggi
Publication Date:: 01-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Good governance of the security sector, when considered from a disarmament perspective, indicates linkages between two principal issue-areas in contemporary international politics, i.e. those of 'security' and 'governance'. These two issue-areas are closely intertwined, contributing to evolving definitions of the terms themselves. During the bipolar period, security was generally defined in 'hard' military terms. Following the end of the Cold War, the concept was broadened to include 'soft' and human security concerns. This was paralleled by a broadening of the concept of confidence-building measures to include, inter alia, the role of security forces in the society. The fundamental principles of good governance include transparency and accountability of the exercise of state power. The implementation of good governance of the security sector (including military, paramilitary, internal security forces, police, border guards, and intelligence services) is a long and often difficult process, and whether this can be achieved is dependent on the capability and willingness of the individual countries.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, Government, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:: Europe

80. Democratic and Parliamentary Accountability of Intelligence Services after September 11th.

Author:: Peter Gill
Publication Date:: 01-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: In the past thirty years throughout Europe, the Americas and more sporadically elsewhere the issue of how to institute some democratic control over security intelligence agencies has steadily permeated the political agenda. There have been two main reasons for this change. In what might be described as the 'old' democracies (North America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand) the main impetus for change was scandal involving abuses of power and rights by the agencies. Typically, these gave rise to legislative or judicial enquiries that resulted in new legal and oversight structures for the agencies, some of these achieved by statutes, others by executive orders. The best known examples of these are the U.S. congressional enquiries during 1975-76 (chaired by Senator Church and Representative Pike), Justice McDonald's enquiry into the RCMP Security Service in Canada (1977-81) and Justice Hope's into the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:: Australia, North America, New Zealand, and Western Europe

81. Security Sector Reform in Bulgaria

Author:: Velizar Shalamanov
Publication Date:: 01-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Security Sector Reform (SSR) is an essential part of transformation of the totalitarian states to democratic ones. Security was motive, tool and excuse for the Communist Parties to control totally the state, economy and society at all. As a result security sector - named Armed Forces was extremely large, powerful, secret (un-transparent), under communist party control and separated from society even using all the resources of the society, including young men for 2-3 years.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:: Europe and Bulgaria

82. A Casual View into the Future: Reform of Military Education in the Czech Republic

Author:: Marie Vlachová and Ladislav Halberštát
Publication Date:: 01-2003
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: There is no doubt that the security situation in Europe changed dramatically during the last decade. Whilst total war has disappeared from the inventory of security threats, regional wars with devastating consequences for affected countries, are still topical. With ethnic hostility, organised crime and the world-wide terrorism list of non-military threats has become much wider. A widening gap between rich Western countries and their poor neighbours in Eastern and South Eastern Europe represents another serious danger, as well as do uncontrollable corruption in politically and economically weak regimes, the inability of states to protect their borders efficiently against trafficking, smuggling, illegal immigration and weapons proliferation, including weapons of mass destruction. Information warfare which results in serious damage being caused by attacks on the information systems of developed countries represents another relatively new security threat. Expertise in security political decision-making has become very important, and thus in the future, a shortage of competent specialists in governmental and parliamentary structures could affect states' ability to anticipate threats and make an adequate decision.
Topic:: Security, Development, Government, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:: Europe and Czech Republic

83. Between Efficiency and Legitimacy: Democratic Accountability of the Military in the US, France, Sweden and Switzerland

Author:: Hans Born
Publication Date:: 11-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: During situations of national emergencies, natural disasters, conflict and war, state institutions have to act quickly and decisively in order to divert dangers. Every state and its society need to have a competent political leadership and government agencies that are able to act efficiently. From a democratic governance point of view, however, it is equally important that the decision-making process and the resulting outcome is both accepted and valued by the people. In other words, it is essential that the processes and outcomes of the state institutions are legitimate within a democracy.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:: Europe

84. Managing Change: The Reform and Democratic Control of the Security Sector And International Order

Author:: Theodor H. Winkler
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: When the Berlin Wall came crashing down and the Cold War reluctantly proved, to everybody's surprise, to be truly over, there was an apparent, almost embarrassing inability to define the key parameters that would mark the new era that had obviously dawned. Even to give it a name proved difficult. The best attempt still remains “Post Cold War World”, i.e. a negative description (the absence of the Cold War) and not a positive analysis of what truly marks the emerging new international system.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Civil Society, Cold War, Democratization, and Reform
Political Geography:: Europe

85. Assessing Democratic Oversight of the Armed Forces

Author:: Sander Huisman
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: There is no such thing as the model for democratic control of the armed forces. Perhaps more influential than constitutional arrangements; historical legacies and political cultures are setting conditions. However, a few essentials or principles of democratic oversight can be discerned. This paper aims to provide an overview of the efforts of different post-communist states in establishing democratic oversight over their armed forces. The comparative analysis is based on a study that the staff of the Centre for European Security Studies has conducted last year (Organising National Defences for NATO Membership - The Unexamined Dimension of Aspirants' Readiness for Entry) and the experiences gained from a three-year multi-national programme that CESS has started in 2001 (Democratic Control South East Europe: Parliaments and Parliamentary Staff Education Programme - DEMCON-SEE). This programme is running in seven countries: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia-Montenegro.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Development
Political Geography:: Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro

86. Evaluation of Security Sector Reform and Criteria of Success: Practical Needs and Methodological Problems

Author:: Wilhelm Germann
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This paper intends to contribute to a systematic consideration of what constitutes success (or failure) in the conduct of Security Sector Reform (SSR). It deliberately refrains from commenting on the substance of the latter. Starting from the premise that realizing the principle of democratic control of armed forces in democratizing and developing countries represents the Archimedean Point and driving element within the overall reform of their respective security sectors the purpose of this paper is to review the need for a normative and methodological framework for evaluation of progress and assessment of success or failure. consider the problems involved in determining, assessing, evaluating and verifying criteria, conditions and factors that are supposed to be instrumental for the achievement of related results.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Development

87. Security Sector Reform: Concepts and Implementation

Author:: Timothy Edmunds
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Security Sector Reform (SSR) has emerged as a key concept in policy and academic circles in recent years. Its origins stem from two main areas. First, from the development community, who have increasingly acknowledged the important role that the 'security sector' plays in issues of economic development and democratisation. Second from the field of civil-military relations (CMR), particularly in relation to developments in central and eastern Europe, where post communist circumstances have led many analysts to think more holistically about key aspects of the CMR debate. SSR takes a holistic approach to the security sector that manifests itself in two ways. First, by recognising the importance of militarised formations other than the regular armed forces in (civil-military) reform efforts. Second by recognising that the role of security and security sector actors in political and economic reform is important and complex, and not simply limited to questions of military praetorianism and civilian control over the armed forces.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Development
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe

88. Principles and Prerequisites of DCAF, Commonalities of the Best Practices in Established Democracies

Author:: Dr. Dietrich Genschel
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The paper concentrates on the principles and prerequisites of DCAF as followed and applied in established (western) democracies. "Commonality" does not imply adherence to all principles to the same degree and in any detail. National history and tradition do condition the ways in which armed forces are structured and organized, educated, motivated and commanded. "Best practice" does not imply that there are no deviations from the principles and violations of their content. On the other hand the principles themselves take account of dangers of misuse und deviant behavior by providing corrective mechanisms. Overall the principles are guided by a vision of how best democratic and armed forces structures and behavioral features can be harmonized to the benefit of both with clear subordination of the armed forces under democratically legitimized political supremacy, without degrading efficiency and effectiveness.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Democratization, and Politics

89. International Standards and Obligations: Norms and Criteria for DCAF in the EU, OSCE and OECD Areas

Author:: Owen Greene
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: This paper aims to examine existing and emerging international norms and criteria relating to the security sector and security sector reform amongst EU,OSCE and OECD countries. Security sector reform agendas are wide, and this paper focuses particularly on norms and criteria relating to democratic accountability and control of the security sector. It aims to clarify ways in which normative processes in these areas could contribute to international efforts to promote and assist appropriate security sector reform (SSR).
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and Democratization
Political Geography:: Europe

90. September 11: New Challenges and Problems for Democratic Oversight

Author:: Nicholas Williams
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The implications of the events of September 11 are not yet fully clear. Generally, national security policies and postures take some time to appreciate the effects of strategic shifts. Even if the lessons are quickly learnt, security structures can be slow to absorb them. European defence structures and capabilities are already subject to the transformation required by the end of east-west confrontation and the arrival in the 1990s of the new demands of crisis management. Yet, over twelve years after the end of the Cold War, the necessary transformations and re-posturing of European armed forces are still under way. This is partly due to the scale of the task; partly the result of the costs of military restructuring (while banking immediately the savings arising from force reductions, Governments have preferred to invest over time in new military capabilities); and partly because there is no great sense of urgency. By definition, crisis management is a question of political choice, rather than a matter of direct national security. Developing the necessary capabilities has been an evolutionary process, subject to the need to manage new programmes within declining defence budgets.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Defense Policy, Cold War, and Democratization
Political Geography:: Europe

91. Criteria Of Success And Failure In Hungary's Democratisation Process – A Methodological Experiment For Comparable National Case Studies

Author:: Zoltan Martinusz
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The objective of this paper is to provide a brief general analysis of the democratisation of the security sector in Hungary in the decade following the political changes of 1989-1990 and highlight elements of success and failure. It must be underlined at the very beginning that the following analysis is of an experimental nature and is intended to serve more as a basis for future debate than an ultimate framework and example for similar analyses regarding other countries.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:: Europe and Hungary

92. Security Sector Reform in Lithuania: Theory and Practice

Author:: Robertas Sapronas
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: During the first half of the 1990s all Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, including the three Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, were struggling through the difficult process of transition toward a democratic system and market economy. The transformations of the post Cold War era had profound effects on practically every sector of the respective societies, which had to find their new role and place in the new world.
Topic:: Security, Cold War, Democratization, and Economics
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe

93. Learning from Case Studies

Author:: Malcolm Chalmers
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: When countries are accepted into NATO membership, it will become more difficult to 'test' them on a pass/fail basis since, by virtue of the fact that they will have been accepted into the 'club', they will already have passed. Increasingly, therefore, some other form of process will be needed in order to promote improvements in democratic control of the armed forces in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and NATO
Political Geography:: Europe

94. Why Engage in Security Sector Reform Abroad? International Norms, External Democratization and the Role of DCAF

Author:: Gerhard Kümmel
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The issue of Security Sector Reform (SSR) has gained quite a lot of interest within the last decade both in politics and in academia. However there is no consensus or agreement on what is actually meant by SSR and how it is to be defined. To map the scope of the debate, Timothy Edmunds (2001: 1) distinguishes two approaches to delineate what SSR refers to: "The first is concerned with those militarised formations authorised by the state to utilise force to protect the state itself and its citizens. This definition limits SSR to organisations such as the regular military, paramilitary police forces and the intelligence services. The second approach takes a wider view of SSR, defining it as those organisations and activities concerned with the provision of security (broadly defined), and including organisations and institutions ranging from, for example, private security guards to the judiciary." The first approach may be regarded as constituting something like the minimum consensus on what SSR includes and, thus, seems to be quite undisputed. Also, the examples Edmunds cites as belonging to the second approach seem to be quite legitimate, albeit with this arguably being more the case for the judiciary than for private security guards. Nevertheless, the real problems with the second approach rest in what is being put into the brackets, namely a broad definition of security. This resonates with the debate about the term, the meaning(s) and the dimensions of security. Within this debate, one may observe an extension of the contents of the term security to include, for example, ecological, cultural, and, quite recently, human dimensions (see Buzan 1991; Daase 1991; Buzan/Waever/de Wilde 1998). As a consequence, if these extended dimensions of security were included in the usage of the term security in SSR, this would surely mean overloading the concept because the number of actors involved in SSR would become legion.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and Democratization
Political Geography:: Europe

95. Responding to Post Cold War Security Challenges: Conceptualising Security Sector Reform

Author:: Wilhelm Germann
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The new realities and challenges governing the nature of security in the post Cold War era have brought about a variety of pressing reasons for engaging in security related reforms. The inherent needs oscillate between mere adjustments of traditional concepts and force structures to today's quite different security requirements, on the one end, and comprehensive political reorientation and transformation, including the establishment of entire new national and regional security architectures, on the other.
Topic:: Security, Cold War, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:: Europe

96. Reform of the Czech Security Sector (Including a Brief Assessment of the Slovak Security Sector Reform)

Author:: Jan Jires
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The aim of this paper is to provide an overall account of the Czech security sector reform that followed the fall of the communist regime in 1989. Especially the period starting in 1997 will be emphasized, since only that year, in connection with the on-coming accession to NATO, a really profound reform of country's security system and security sector began.
Topic:: Security, NATO, and Democratization
Political Geography:: Europe

97. Lessons Learned from Security Sector Reform and Democratisation in Bulgaria

Author:: Valeri Ratchev
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The objective of this paper is to contribute to the international efforts in setting up a general framework and agenda for security sector reform. The text is organized in reference to the model presented by Zoltan Martinuzs. It reflects the unique Bulgarian experience from the last decade and examines the democratic credentials of the country, particularly as a candidate-member to NATO. It concentrates on the transitional issues and identifies the obstacles to a more complete democratic transformation in the overall security sector.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, and Development
Political Geography:: Europe and Bulgaria

98. New Challenges, New Opportunities, The Security Sector Reform in Romania

Author:: Liviu Muresan
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The international security environment registered a dramatic change after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. The instrument, training, scare budgets, lake of inter agencies cooperation could be sometime not only insufficient but also inadequate.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, and Development
Political Geography:: Europe and Romania

99. Democratic Transformation of the Security Sector in Russia: A Sad Saga of Failure

Author:: Yuri Federov
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: The motto "Yet who could guard the guards themselves?" used as the epigraph is often quoted in academic and political literature on civil-military relations. Indeed, it consists of two questions in one; both of which related to the essence of democratic transformation of the security sector in post-totalitarian societies: firstly, whether civil institutions are able to "guard the guards", in fact to control military and law-enforcement agencies, and, secondly, whether these institutions are democratically formed or they are of authoritarian or totalitarian nature.
Topic:: Security, Democratization, and Development
Political Geography:: Russia, Europe, and Asia

100. Security Sector Reforms in Slovenia: Waging Success and Failure Before the End of Transition

Author:: Ljubica Jelusic
Publication Date:: 10-2002
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:: Until Ten-Day War in 1991, and independence after it, Slovenia was one of the six republics of the Socialist Federal republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). Therefore, its security sector was part of broader Yugoslav national security system, established on the basis of a total national defence doctrine. The police was organised within republics and was controlled by the Government of the Republic. It had responsibilities towards the Federal Ministry of Interior, for example, in forming joint special police units, in common border control, etc. but it was allowed to form its own education system and to carry some special insignia, which differentiated the policemen from different republics. Since Autumn 1968, the federal armed forces had consisted of two components, federal standing army The Yugoslav People's Army (YPA), and militia units, organised within republics, Territorial Defence (TD). The system of rescue and self-protection was a part of total national defence and was also organised within republics, which followed the reality, that the types of the most dangerous natural catastrophes were very different in each republic, so, rescue and self-protection units had to be expertised in different kinds of rescue operations.
Topic:: Security, Civil Society, and Development
Political Geography:: Europe

Search

Search Constraints

Search Results

Refine your search

Topic

Political Geography

Content Type

Publishing Institution

Author

Publication Year

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS