Resources
1. SSR Resource Centre Publications
A list of our key publications, including the SSR Issue Papers, SSR Monitor, and conference reports.
2. Key SSR Organizations
The SSR Resource Centre has compiled a list of SSR organizations to help you familiarize yourself with key players in the field.
3. Key SSR Documents
Looking for must-reads in SSR? The SSR Resource Centre has complied a list of key SSR documents to help get you started.
4. Training Toolkits
Want to learn more about training and capacity building in the field of SSR? Here you will find a collection of toolkits for SSR practitioners.
5. SSR Document Database
Here you will find our document database, which we call the SSR Research Community. We think of it as a community because it will allow users to share their own research documents with the group, eventually creating a huge repository of SSR documents.
1. SSR Resource Centre Publications
A list of our key publications, including the SSR Issue Papers, SSR Monitor, and conference reports.
The SSR Issue Papers
The Security Sector Reform (SSR) Issue Papers are authored by prominent practitioners in the field, policy makers, academics and informed observers, the papers in this series will contribute to ongoing debates and influence policy on issues related to SSR. Combining analysis of current problems and challenges, they will examine thematic and geographic topics relating to the most pressing SSR issues.
SSR Issue Paper No. 9: Geoff Burt. ”From Private Security to Public Good: Regulating the Private Security Industry in Haiti.”
SSR Issue Paper No. 8: Michael Lawrence. “Towards a Non-State Security Sector Reform Strategy.”
SSR Issue Paper No. 7: Madeline Kristoff. ”Policing in Palestine: Analyzing the EU Police Reform Mission in the West Bank.”
SSR Issue Paper No. 6: Tom Hamilton-Baillie and Christian Dennys. “Strategic Support to Security Sector Reform in Afghanistan.”
SSR Issue Paper No. 5: C. Christine Fair. “Security Sector Governance in Pakistan: Progress, But Many Challenges Persist.”
SSR Issue Paper No. 4: Alejandro Pachon. “Financing Security Sector Reform: A Review of Official Development Assistance Data.”
SSR Issue Paper No. 3: Kristin Bricker. “Military Justice and Impunity in Mexico’s Drug War.”
SSR Issue Paper No. 2: Aly Verjee. “Sudan’s Aspirational Army: A History of the Joint Integrated Units.”
SSR Issue Paper No. 1: Isabelle Fortin. “Security Sector Reform in Haiti One Year After the Earthquake.”
The Security Sector Reform Monitor
The Security Sector Reform Monitor was a quarterly publication that tracked developments and trends in the ongoing security sector reform processes of five countries: Afghanistan, Burundi, Timor-Leste, Haiti and Southern Sudan. Adopting a holistic definition of the security sector, the Monitor covered a wide range of actors, topics and themes, from reforms in the rule of law institutions and armed forces to demilitarization activities and the role of non-statutory security and justice actors.
eDialogue Summary Report: Security Sector Transformation in North Africa and the Middle East
An eDialogue held in partnership with the United States Institute for Peace provided a forum for a lively exchange of ideas on the application of security sector reform (SSR) in Africa and the Middle East. This report summarizes some of the questions and discussion prompted by the eDialogue, and considers possible entry points and policy directions for reform.
eBook: The Future of Security Sector Reform
A collection of essays from leading scholars, analysts and practitioners examining various facets of the security sector reform agenda and the future of the concept as a whole. The publication will be presented in an innovative ‘eBook’ format — available as a free PDF download or for purchase in eBook format for eReaders, iPad and smartphones.
Special Report: SSR and the Domestic-International Security Nexus
This special report, commissioned by Public Safety Canada, follows a two-day workshop on security sector reform (SSR) organized in partnership with Public Safety Canada. Two central questions raised at the seminar are the focus of this report: How can Public Safety Canada effectively contribute to SSR engagements across the world and how can it fit SSR engagement into its domestically oriented mandate? Case studies suggest that engaging in SSR abroad can help eliminate or reduce some transnational threats, such as organized crime and weapons and drug trafficking.
Conference Report: At the Margins of SSR
In September 2010, a conference, At the Margins of SSR: Gender and Informal Justice, aimed to increase awareness of gender and informal justice, two areas of security sector reform (SSR) that have often been overlooked. The morning session examined southern women’s experiences with police reform, and the afternoon session considered the role of informal or non-state security and justice structures. The report includes a discussion of a future research agenda to examine the relationship between informal justice and security and SSR.
e-Conference Report: The Future of Security Sector Reform
On May 4-8 2009, Mark Sedra organized an e-Conference entitled “The Future of Security Sector Reform.” The goal of the web-based conference was to take stock of the evolution of SSR – identifying successes, failures and challenges – and contemplate its future. Over 300 policy makers, practitioners and observers from over 50 countries and a wide range of disciplines took part in the conference.
SSR 101: A Backgrounder on Security Sector Reform
This background paper, a primer for those new to the security sector reform (SSR) field, provides a critical overview of the SSR model, breaking it down and outlining its key elements. It also surveys emerging SSR best practices and analyzes current reform strategies and approaches. The paper identifies the main challenges to the implementation of SSR in the field and some of the tensions and debates surrounding the model that have gained traction in the policy and academic communities. While not a replacement for key foundational documents like the OECD DAC Handbook on Security System Reform, the paper offers an analytical examination of the development of SSR orthodoxy and its application in the field over the past decade.
-
2. Key SSR Organizations
The SSR Resource Centre has compiled a list of SSR organizations to help you familiarize yourself with key players in the field.
The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)
Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Centre for Security Sector Management
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations
African Security Sector Network (ASSN)
Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL)
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Clingendael – Netherlands Institute of International Relations
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
International Crisis Group (ICG)
International Peace Institute (IPI)
International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT)
Marsad, The Palestinian Security Sector Observatory
Monterey Institute of International Studies
OECD-DAC International Network on Conflict and Fragility (INCAF)
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
United States Institute for Peace (USIP)
Zunia Knowledge Exchange (Development Gateway)
-
3. Key SSR Documents
Looking for must-reads in SSR? The SSR Resource Centre has complied a list of key SSR documents to help you get started.
Berghof Conflict Research, Security Sector Reform: Potentials and Challenges for Conflict Transformation, 2004.
Clingendael Institute, Enhancing Democratic Governance of the Security Sector: An Institutional Assessment Framework, 2003.
Clingendael Institute (Conflict Research Unit), Towards a Whole-of-Government Approach to Security System Reform, 2008.
OECD Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC), Handbook on Security System Reform: Supporting Security and Justice, 2007.
Danish Institute for International Studies, Security Sector Reform in Fragile States, 2006.
Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), Development Donors and the Concept of Security Sector Reform, 2003.
International Peace Academy, In Good Company? The Role of Business in Security Sector Reform, 2005.
Megan Bastik and Kristin Valasek, Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit. Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, 2008.
OECD Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC), Handbook on Security System Reform: Supporting Security and Justice, 2007.
OECD Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC), Security System Reform: What Have We Learned? 2010.
UK Department for International Development (DFID), Security Sector Reform Policy Brief, 2003.
UK Department for International Development (DFID), Understanding and Supporting Security Sector Reform.
UN Development Programme, Justice and Security Sector Reform, 2002.
UN Secretary-General Report on Securing Peace and Development: the Role of the United Nations in Supporting Security Sector Reform – United Nations General Assembly (A/62/659-S/2008/39), 2008.
US Agency for International Development, US Department of Defense, US Department of State joint paper (3DSSR paper), Security Sector Reform.
Wulf, Herbert. Security Sector Reform in Developing and Transitional Countries, 2000.
-
4. Training Toolkits
Want to learn more about training and capacity building in the field of SSR? Here you will find a collection of toolkits for SSR practitioners.
Security Governance Group Senior Associate David Law authors this toolkit on implementing the co-learning approach in security sector reform, titled “Co-Learning Approach to Capacity-Building and training for Security Sector Reform Practitioners — Including a Toolkit of Ten Co-learning Applications” (2011). Click here to read the Toolkit, published by the Cranfield Security Sector Management Team at Cranfield University.
After working over several years with professionals from across the globe, Security Governance Group Senior Associate David Law authors this toolkit of training tools for SSR practitioners (2012). The toolkit showcases learning techniques in five focus areas: (1) Contextualising a region; (2) Comparative mapping of regional security sectors; (3) Drafting regional scenarios; (4) Crafting a regional security strategy; and (5) Developing basic skills for personal profesional developing, using material related to regional security cooperation. Click here to read “Training Tools and Exercises for Building Mutual Awareness, Confidence and Cooperation in Troubled Regions”.
-
5. Document Database
Welcome to the Security Sector Reform Resource Centre’s document database, which we are calling the SSR Research Community. We think of it as a community because it will allow users to share their own research documents with the group, eventually creating a huge repository of SSR documents–some of which may no longer be available on the internet. 
The SSR Research Community is based on the research tool Zotero (www.zotero.org), which allows users to: organize and document their research items; capture websites and .pdfs and save them online; share research with other users; automatically generate bibliographies and works cited in a variety of citation styles, and finally, take part in our community of experts.
The video below will introduce you to Zotero and demonstrate some of its functions.
Please follow this link for a more detailed how-to video on using Zotero. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Geoff Burt at gburt@secgovgroup.com.
Visit the Security