Reconstructing Security After Conflict ─ Security Sector Reform in Sierra Leone

Security in Sierra Leone has been transformed since the end of the war in 2002, the intervention of the international community (particularly the UN and the UK) and the work of Sierra Leonean government officials who have kept reforms going over a long period of time. As a result, Sierra Leone is frequently seen as the example of `security sector reform' (SSR). This book looks at the group of reforms that eventually produced SSR in Sierra Leone, tracing the evolution from fire-fighting to increasingly medium-term programmes within an overall framework of long-term commitment to Sierra Leone. It shows how this evolution happened and analyzes some of the consequences of the actions taken. It also investigates how the experience of Sierra Leone was critical to the development of policies that came to be known as SSR.

Based on research including the formation of a working group of key actors involved in the process itself, both from the UK and Sierra Leone, and a comprehensive programme of discussions, seminars and interviews with many people involved in the process of SSR, this book has been based on extensive engagement with people involved in the process itself. It is the first comprehensive study of what happened in Sierra Leone between the late 1990s and the elections in 2007.

Paul Jackson is Head of the School of Government and Society at the University of Birmingham, UK, where he teaches and researches contemporary African politics and security and has been the Director of the Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform. He was part of the reform efforts in Sierra Leone immediately following the conflict, working on issues of security and decentralisation and the rejuvenation of local government. He has many years experience of working in developing countries, particularly in Africa. He has worked within the area of politics and security for several governments, the UN, the EU and the World Bank. He sits on the Geneva DCAF Advisory Board, is a member of the Folke Bernadotte Institute working group on Security Sector Reform and directs the International Development Department's postgraduate programme in Conflict, Security and Development.
Peter Albrecht is a PhD researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) and Copenhagen Business School, focusing on local level implementation of security sector reform (SSR) in Sierra Leone. He was previously Governance and Conflict Adviser in the UK's Stabilisation Unit and Senior Programme Officer in International Alert's Peacebuilding Issues Programme.