Reconstructing Security after Conflict

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 is written by people engaged 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.