IGAD-led peace talks were held in March, without any resolution to the crisis. However, even if a peace deal was struck, it is unlikely that it would have succeeded in establishing enduring peace. Although the civil war that began in December 2013 is largely a product of a political/military power struggle, the general insecurity in 
SSR Blog
Category Archive
Category | SSR
Backgrounder – Factors behind South Sudan’s Persistent Insecurity
By: Margarita Yakovenko | Wednesday, April 29th, 2015Implicit Traces of Security Sector Reform in Turkey: A Fragile but Steady Process
By: Ahmet Barbak | Monday, April 20th, 2015Turkey, because of its peculiar historical conditions, is a country where the military has played a dominant role in its politics. With several military interventions in its modern history, Turkey has been recognized as a unique example of civil-military relations given that its democratic institutions have persisted and co-existed with the politically active military. The
Publication Summary - Gender, Security and SSR in Lebanon
By: Margarita Yakovenko | Wednesday, April 15th, 2015International Alert’s report “Gender, Security and SSR in Lebanon” is part of a series of publications that explore Lebanese citizens’ perceptions of security institutions and threats. This report focuses specifically on the links between gender and security, which is an important but an often ignored topic in the security sector reform field. In particular, using
Could New Laws to Fight Terrorism Actually Help Fuel It?
By: David Cortright | Wednesday, April 8th, 2015Last week in Australia, 230 suspected jihadists were prevented from flying to the Middle East, highlighting a trend among governments (Canada and France are others) to implement tough new counterterrorism laws. While these laws have a purported purpose of improving national security, there is a risk that punitive measures that widen police and intelligence powers will have
Increasing the momentum for police in African-led peacekeeping operations
By: Gustavo de Carvalho | Friday, March 27th, 2015African-led peace support operations (PSOs) are increasingly deployed to missions in high-risk environments, which often require combat activities. These are also contexts where the United Nations (UN) will not enter until a peace agreement has been signed and the peace process has reached critical mass – that is, when there is peace to keep. In
Free eSeminar - Untapped Resources: The Extractive Industry in Conflict-Affected Countries
By: SSR Resource Centre | Tuesday, March 17th, 2015The Centre for Security Governance (CSG), Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), and Wilfrid Laurier University Global Studies department (WLU) are hosting a series of eight online seminars focusing on the theme of “Contemporary Debates on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding.” Our second event will be held on Wednesday March 25 from 1:00PM to 2:30PM EST and will
Learning from failure? British and European approaches to security and justice programming
By: Antoine Vandemoortele | Friday, March 13th, 2015The latest report from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), UK’s aid watchdog, –Review of UK Development Assistance for Security and Justice - is highly critical of the Department for International Development (DFID)’s work on security and justice in fragile and conflict-affected countries and highlights a series of failed initiatives and challenges to overcome for
Terrorism: Learn To Live With It. Why Canada and its partners need to focus on defining, mitigating and managing - not eliminating - terrorism
By: Valarie Findlay | Friday, February 27th, 2015In these days of sound-bites and quotes, the issue of global terrorism by non-state and state-sympathizers has created conundrums in Western Nations in communicating and devising effective approaches, responses and analysing causality. We see this in our struggles to augment and institute new legislative powers, military involvement and domestic responses to events that may or
Defence and Security Sector Oversight in the Fight Against Corruption
By: Jean Pierre Chabot | Thursday, February 26th, 2015December 24, 2014 saw the coming into force of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. At the passing of 2014, the Treaty had been signed by 130 States and ratified by 61 of those. Such treaties are important vehicles for greater cooperation on pressing global issues, as well as benchmarks for the establishment of minimum
ISSAT Blog: 10 tips for police internal oversight
By: SSR Resource Centre | Friday, February 20th, 2015Internal oversight of a police service is key to ensuring its smooth functioning. It also meets the criteria of accountability, a key characteristic of security sector reform (SSR)[1] . SSR aims to not only improve the effectiveness of security and justice services, but also to enhance their accountability and good governance. Given the central role of the police in
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