Promoting security sector reform (SSR) in nations emerging from war is one of the most critical, but also most difficult, of the new missions the African Union has assumed as part of its expansion of peace support operations in recent years. SSR has become notorious for its dearth of clear-cut success stories, particularly in post-conflict environments. Despite close to two decades of implementation experiences for scholars and practitioners to draw from, as of 2016 there has been no uptick in the tiny number of post conflict SSR efforts generally regarded as successful.
This paper examines existing theory, institutional policies, and actual practice regarding SSR (and closely-related DDR – disarmament, demobilization, & reintegration) efforts undertaken as part of multilateral interventions into African nations emerging from conflict, from the emergence of the SSR concept in 1998 to the present.
