The creation of stronger states in Africa is central to the success of conceiving, designing and implementing agendas that seek to enhance peace and human security. Most states in Africa exhibit chronic privatisation of violence by informal security actors, and this is symptomatic of the difficulties of state building more generally. Security sector reform (SSR) as a tool for peacebuilding and human security on the continent must therefore be part of a wider effort to address the problem of state weakness as well as respond to the crucial (in)security that is presented by informal actors such as militias and vigilante groups. This has become crucial in the light of the human security predicaments that informal security actors represent. This article uses the cases of Nigeria and South Africa to show how the current institutional approach to SSR ignores the critical importance of the nature of the state and the structural conditions that undermine the state-making process in Africa in both analysis and practice. It argues that the governance of privatised violence is central to the need for SSR in Africa and that the enhancement of state capacity is the key to the success of that governance.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AkeC. (2000). The Feasibility of Democracy in AfricaDakar: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa.
2.
AldenC. (1996). Apartheid's Last StandBasingstoke: Macmillan.
3.
AyoobM. (1992). The Security Predicament of the Third World State: Reflections on State Making in a Comparative Perspective. The Insecurity Dilemma: National Security of Third World StatesJobB.Boulder: Lynne Rienner 1995, The Third World Security Predicament, Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
4.
AzaryaV.ChazanN. (1998). Disengagement from the State in Africa: Reflections on the Experience of Ghana and Guinea. Africa: Dilemmas of Development and ChangeLewisP.Boulder: Westview.
5.
BakerB. (2002). Taking the Law into Their Own Hands: Lawless Law Enforcers in AfricaAldershot: Ashgate.
6.
BourneM. (2002). Security Sector Reform and the Challenges and Opportunities of Privatisation of Security. Security Sector Reform: The Challenges and Opportunities of the Privatisation of SecurityLillyD.von Tangen PageM.London: International Alert.
7.
BrzoskaM. (2003). Development Donors and the Concept of Security Sector ReformGeneva DCAF Occasional Paper 4.
8.
BuzanB. (1983). People, States and Fear: The National Security Problem in International PoliticsChapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1991, People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era, Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
9.
CawthraG. (1986). Brutal Force: The Apartheid War MachineLondon: International Aid Fund.
10.
ChalmersM. (2000). Security Sector Reform in Developing Countries: An EU PerspectiveLondon: Saferworld.
11.
Communism, Fascism and Democracy: The Theoretical FoundationsCohenC.New York: Random House1972.
12.
EboA. (2005). The Challenges and Opportunities of Security Sector Reform in Post-conflict LiberiaGeneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces December Occasional Paper 9.
13.
EliasN. (1982). The Civilising Process: State Formation and CivilisationOxford: Blackwell.
14.
EroC. (2002). Vigilantes, Civil Defence Forces and Militia Groups: The Other Side of the Privatisation of Security in Africa. Conflict Trends June.
15.
FayemiK. (2004). Governing Insecurity in Post-conflict States: The Case of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Reform and Reconstruction of the Security SectorBrydenA.HanggiH.New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
16.
Fitz-GeraldA. (2004). Security Sector Reform in Sierra LeoneShrivenham: Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform.
Freedom HouseFreedom in Africa TodayWashington, DC: Freedom House2006.
19.
GerthH.Wright MillsC. (1946). From Max Weber: Essays in SociologyNew York: OUP.
20.
HanggiH. (2003). Making Sense of Security Sector Reform. Challenges of Security Sector ReformHanggiH.WinklerT.New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers 2004, ‘Conceptualising Security Sector Reform and Reconstruction’ in Bryden, A. & Hanggi, H. eds, Reform and Reconstruction of the Security Sector, New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.
21.
HillsA. (1997). Warlords, Militia and Conflict in Contemporary Africa: A Re-examination of Terms. Small Wars and Insurgencies8, 135–51.
22.
(2005). War and Peace in the 21st Century. Human Security ReportOxford: OUP.
23.
JobB. (1992). The Insecurity Dilemma: National, Regime, and State Securities in the Third World. The Insecurity Dilemma: National Security of Third World StatesJobB.Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
24.
KaldorM.2000, ‘Cosmopolitanism and Organised Violence’, paper prepared for ‘Conceiving Cosmopolitanism’ conference, 27–29 April, Warwick; available at www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/press/010kaldor.pdf
KrauseK. (1998). Theorising Security, State Formation and the “Third World” in the Post-Cold War World. Review of International Studies24.
27.
LalaA. (2003). Security Sector Reform as a Governance Issue: The Case of Mozambique. Journal of Security Sector Management1, 2.
28.
MagyarK. (1996). Nigeria. The Political Role of the Military: An International HandbookDanopoulosC.WatsonC.Westport: Green Press.
29.
MigdalJ. (1988). Strong Societies and Weak States: State-Society Relations and State Capability in the Third WorldNew Jersey: Princeton University Press.
30.
NarayanD.ChambersR.ShahM.PeteschP. (2000). Voices of the Poor: Crying out for ChangeOxford: OUP.
31.
NathanL.Good Governance, Security and Disarmament: The Challenges of Demilitarisation in AfricaInternational Conference on Leadership Challenges of Demilitarisation in AfricaArushaTanzania July22–24 1998
32.
OECD-DAC (2004). Security System Reform and Governance: Policy and Good PracticeParis: OECD.
33.
RotbergR. (2003). Failed States, Collapsed States, Weak States: Causes and Indicators. State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of TerrorRotbergR.Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
34.
SorensenG. (1996). Individual Security and National Security: The State Remains the Principal Problem. Security Dialogue27, 4371–3862001, ‘War and State Making: Why Doesn't It Work in the Third World?’ in Security Dialogue 32:3:341–354.
35.
ThomasC. (1982). Southern Instability, Security and Western Concepts: On an Unhappy Marriage and the Need for a Divorce. The State and Instability in the SouthThomasC.SaravanamuttuP.New York: St Martins's Press.
36.
ThompsonH. (2006). The Modern Sate and its Adversaries. Government and Opposition41, 123–42.
37.
TillyC. (1985). War Making and State Making as Organised Crime. Bringing the State Back InEvansP.RueschemeyerD.SkocpolT.New York: Cambridge University Press 1990, Coercion, Capital and Europe, AD 990–1992, Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
