Security sector governance and reform

[5] The framework emerged after Saferworld staff observed from examples in South Africa, Indonesia and countries in Eastern Europe that national security and its components were considered crucial in a state recovering from conflict or an authoritarian regime.

On 13 May 1998, Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development, used the term for the first time, publicly, during a speech at the Royal College of Defence Studies.

This subsequently requires, among others, that publicly transparent laws are in place; oversight and separation of powers mechanisms are established and working; and the state's legitimate use of force is regulated through strategies and policies.

[1][14] An operational level example would be improved and open interaction between the public and the security sector, including functioning freedom of information and complaint institutes.

According to Florian Weigand, the experiences of SSR in Afghanistan, for example, have prompted a debate on the advantages of providing human rather than state security in the process of state-building.

[20] SSR is considered an instrument of international development aid; and attaining good SSG is seen by practitioners as a conflict prevention tool and as a post-conflict stabilizer.

For example, Jane Chanaa has argued that there is a concept–context divide because conceptualisation overshadowed the understanding on how the idea adapts to the local situations whereas Safal Ghimire has noted that such a chasm exists also because the 'SSR' concept does not talk about reforms in the benefactors.