Can security sector reform (SSR) in Arab countries take place as part of a gradual opening of the political system? What is the appropriate role of external actors in SSR? This article finds that SSR in Arab countries is nascent, largely donor-driven and in most cases occurring in post-conflict situations. However, there is a growing debate on SSR as part of the wider push for democratic reform. The most promising avenue for change therefore seems to come from local civil society actors. External contributions must support and enhance the efficiency of domestic reform processes.
The culture of ‘hard security’ remains dominant in Arab countries, and the security sector is viewed as guaranteeing national security and sovereignty, rather than as serving society’s needs. Foreign-driven reform efforts depend on cooperation from governments and produce, at best, top-down measures of a technical nature that do not challenge the sector’s underlying rationale. (Cooperation with external actors in fact increases the opacity of the security sector because it is conducted in secrecy, due to public suspicions regarding external interference.) SSR programmes have failed to engage key actors outside the security sector and government that are struggling to push forward a democratic agenda.
Other challenges to carrying out SSR in Arab countries include a chauvinistic culture in the security sector, and autonomy provided by the sector’s educational, health and social services. In some countries, security is becoming increasingly privatised, and in others, the military (ousted from political influence by internal security institutions) focuses on the commercial interests of its officers instead. In countries with a high level of social division such as Iraq, the security sector is at risk of fragmentation. Further, constitutional and institutional ambiguities lead to weak or absent security sector rules and civilian accountability enforcement mechanisms.
Despite such challenges, where civil society has had some space to grow, it is gradually developing effective strategies to challenge the security apparatus. This pattern exists in Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, Lebanon and Palestine. It is nascent in Jordan and absent in Syria.
- Morocco offers an example of gradual security sector reform – driven by a monarchy viewed as legitimate, and a vibrant, relatively well-structured civil and political society
- Another effective mechanism has been investigations and trials for human rights violations
- Informal dialogue among civil society groups and attempts at engaging representatives from the security sector are shaping a bottom-up process in Arab countries
- Public distrust of the security sector has never been so strong, but a home-grown agenda for security sector reform has yet to be defined.
In spite of the narrow space for civil society expression, let alone participation, the civil rights movements in Arab countries has been more successful at setting the reform agenda than the legal bureaucratic-institutional approaches advocated by donors. The most effective way of promoting SSR in Arab countries therefore seems to be embedding it in the larger struggle for democratic change that civil and political society is pushing for. Outside parties play a useful role in setting norms in SSR and in sustaining the reform process, but they cannot induce the momentum within society needed to transform security practices.
- The process by which civil society can set the reform agenda is largely spontaneous, messy, and based on trial and error.
- External actors must consider the political factors that underpin the distribution of power between the branches of the security sector. In addition, a rights-based approach that stems from the involvement of human rights groups would help avoid the risk of a technical approach.
- It is possible to reach out to reform-minded individuals within the security sector to advance the reform agenda.
- Without a strategy for gender-sensitive reform, efforts at promoting a democratic culture and a new understanding of security will remain meaningless.
