"Security Sector Reform and Good Governance in Developing Countries."
 
Tulane Institute for International Development (TIID) invites you to its November Seminar under the Tulane International Development 2001 Seminar Series.

PowerPoint with Audio

Speaker: Dr. Nicole Ball

People and states must be secure from the fear of violence at the local, national, regional and international levels if an enabling environment for sustainable political and economic development is to be created.  This means both that states must be adequately protected against external aggression and internal subversion and that the lives of ordinary citizens must not be crippled by state repression, violent conflict, or rampant criminality.  In many parts of the developing world, however, the security forces -- particularly the armed forces, paramilitary forces, and the police -- have frequently been a cause of insecurity for both the state and its citizens, rather than a means of guaranteeing individual and collective security. Governments have often failed to abide by the rule of law in their relations with their neighbors or their citizens.  Many recent wars have their roots in elite attempts to protect their privileged position domestically or to undermine other governments whose foreign policies are viewed as injurious to the ability of these elites to remain in power.  The inability of the security forces to provide a safe and secure environment for economic and political development arises to a large degree out of poor governance -- both of the state in general and of the security forces in particular. Citizens are unable to call their leaders to account.  The security forces are not accountable to elected civil authorities.  The civil authorities are ill equipped to manage and oversee the security forces.  Secrecy, rather than transparency, is the hallmark of the security sector.

This presentation will discuss how to strengthen democratic governance in the security sector.  It will also examine the role of domestic and international stakeholders in promoting democratic governance in the security sector.

 
 
About the Speaker:

Nicole Ball joined CIP in June 2001 as Senior Fellow.  She is also a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland, College Park.  Prior to joining CIDCM and CIP, Ball was a Fellow at the Overseas Development Council from 1991 – 2000 and Director of Analysis at the National Security Archive from 1987 – 1990.

Ball’s current work is in the area of security sector governance.  Long anathema to development assistance agencies, security sector governance is now increasingly recognized as central to the ability of states to achieve sustainable, poverty reducing development and human security.  Ball works with the UK Department for International Development on a range of projects in the area of security sector governance, including the development of a handbook on security sector governance for African practitioners written by African security and development specialists.  Ball is also assisting the Netherlands Institute of International Affairs (“Clingendael”) produce an institutional assessment of the security sector for the Dutch Foreign Ministry.  Additionally, she is co-authoring a background paper on accountability in the security sector for the UNDP Human Development Report 2002