Beschreibung
In Liberia and Sierra Leone, strategies to reform and reconstruct the
security sector have centred on re-establishing the state’s monopoly on
the use of force. However, little attention is given to the array of
non-state actors that often play a major role in how individuals and
communities experience security. Rebuilding the Security Sector in
Post-Conflict Societies: Perceptions from Urban Liberia and Sierra Leone
seek to address this gap by applying a human security approach to security
provision across these two contexts. A key point of departure is that in
the long run there can be no alternative within post-conflict societies to
a locally owned security sector. Operationalising the concept of local
ownership means that internationally-supported security sector reform
(SSR) activities need to reflect these local realities. As explored within
this study, fostering synergies between state and non-state security
actors may therefore offer an important avenue to support more
sustainable, legitimate SSR efforts.
Judy Smith-Höhn is a senior researcher at the Institute
for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa. Prior to her present
position she was a research fellow at the GIGA Institute of African
Affairs in Hamburg, Germany and later a senior researcher at the Centre
for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town in South Africa. Her thematic
emphases lie in the areas of violent conflict and its prevention, and
security sector reform within a regional focus on Liberia, Sierra Leone,
Zambia and Zimbabwe. She has published nationally and internationally on
topics ranging from security sector reform and postconflict peacebuilding
to democratic transformation in South Africa. She holds a PhD from the
University of Leipzig, Germany, and a Diplom (masters degree) in Political
Science from the University of Hamburg, Germany.
