More often than not Security Sector Reform (SSR) takes place against many odds, in barely enabling political, security, economic and social environments. Such difficult contexts may be characterised by widespread corruption, ongoing violence, imprecise, open-ended or non-inclusive peace agreements and post-conflict architectures, lack of resources, '`stolen" or impending elections or referenda - all circumstances that stand in the way of full-fledged, holistic and sustainable SSR efforts. Following an overview of '`ideal" SSR requirements, contrasted with typical obstacles inhibiting SSR efforts, the main body of this volume offers evidence-based analyses of positive and negative SSR records in barely enabling environments, drawing on the experiences of specific national and international SSR programmes and experiences in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. Lessons learned from these experiences are intended to feed into theoretical re-thinking of SSR policy frameworks as well as to help practitioners in designing and implementing effective and sustainable SSR in challenging environments.
