Stealing Thunder: African Security Sector Reform, the Military's New Challenge
Abstract
Africa has been, and promises to remain, in a perilous state for many years to come. Stabilizing Sub-Saharan Africa is a vital task that is essential to long-term global security. This paper examines Africa's current situation and the reasons behind its catastrophic circumstances. It focuses upon Security Sector Reform (SSR) as a relatively new but key process that is essential to developing a healthy political environment. The paper examines the roots of Africa's instability and analyzes one example of SSR in Africa. It further identifies the practice's characteristic features, develops a set of 10 operating principles, and makes recommendations to implement SSR on a broad scale across Africa. The paper recommends that to bring Africa to an acceptable level of stability, the militaries of the wealthy nations need to become much more actively involved in security reform. The one nation best placed to initiate and coordinate that reform is the United States with its newly formed Africa Command. Assuming this responsibility means willingly undertaking an expanded range of tasks that are outside the realm of traditional warfighting. Such activity will drive further transformations in the character and structure of modern armed forces.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 19, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA471700
Entities
People
- Michael J. Goodspeed
Organizations
- United States Army War College