The Conflict, Security and Development Group

CSDG’s work on the governance of security is concerned with how international responses to the problem of insecurity in countries of the Global South can be better tailored to the political context and needs of aid recipients.

Over the past decade, CSDG’s research has addressed a number of different policy challenges including dealing with the scourge of land mines, light weapons proliferation, the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants, enhancement of peace-keeping capacity in Africa, and the development of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), in Afghanistan. The over-arching umbrella for this work, which has been the primary focus of this programme area, is the Security Sector Reform (SSR) policy agenda.

CSDG’s SSR work has evolved through a number of key stages, including: conceptualisation of SSR; support for donor efforts (particularly those of the UK Government, the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and the United Nations) to develop policy frameworks and modalities for work in this area; and efforts to translate policy into practice through support for international assistance initiatives in a wide range of countries including Afghanistan, Cambodia, Guyana, Indonesia, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Uganda, and Rwanda.

During this period, the international SSR debate has evolved significantly, from an initial emphasis on understanding ‘why’ SSR is important; to asking ‘how’ donors can deliver SSR assistance effectively, to a now emerging debate around how the wider political conditions necessary for SSR can be created, both at global and national levels. Although it could rightly be argued that the SSR concept is now better accepted in both development and security circles, there remain important challenges in operationalising this policy agenda.

These challenges are being addressed by CSDG in a number of ways: through evidence-based research on SSR (see the Security Decision-making study), support for networking and capacity-building among Southern-based NGOs (see the work of the ASSN and the GFN-SSR); participation in SSR policy initiatives (CSDG support for Monitoring & Evaluation and SSR Out-Sourcing projects with Saferworld), and two major, ongoing SSR initiatives in Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.