Democracy and the Chain of Command: A New Governance of Africa's Security Sector (Africa Security Brief, Number 8, November 2010)

Abstract

Africa's senior defense and security officials must adopt higher standards of leadership to reshape Africa's security forces into professional bodies capable of handling contemporary security threats and earning the respect of civilian populations. Politicians' adherence to constitutional limits on power will avoid placing military officers in the untenable position of choosing between respecting civilian authority and upholding democracy. Security cooperation and assistance from international partners should favor African states with a track record of responsible governance within the security sector. When Africa's political crises turn into coups, armed insurrections, or tragic confrontations, the defense and security forces (DSF) are invariably key players. For many years, such military actions were justified as an established right of state sovereignty over domestic issues. But now much of Africa is firmly committed to furthering the standards of democracy and human rights. How can the DSF be refashioned to support democracy? Ultimately, this is dependent on deep respect for the rule of law by all stakeholders, whether civilian or military, governmental or nongovernmental. The caliber of command and leadership exercised by a country's senior officers, accordingly, will determine the DSF's ability to effectively support democratic governance. To this end, defense and security sector leaders should focus on five priority reforms to forge a new military governance in Africa: (1) Establish national threats-based DSF, (2) build institutions of professional DSF, (3) Inspire respect for Republican values, (4) Improve civil-military relations, and (5) Mitigate the complexity of nonmilitary factors.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA546780

Entities

People

  • Dominique Djindjere

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Africa
  • Best Practices
  • Business Administration
  • Civilian Population
  • Democracy
  • Governments
  • Health Care
  • Human Rights
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Security
  • Social Welfare
  • Standards
  • Threats
  • Training
  • War Colleges

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.