In some ways Mexico’s full-fledged war against its drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) advances the goals of SSR. Behind the scenes of bloody confrontation, police forces at various levels are undergoing a process of vetting and reform intended to root out corruption and improve capacity and coordination. Similarly, the country’s judicial system is advancing a modernization 
SSR Blog
Monthly Archive
January | 2012
The War on Drugs as a Threat to SSR
By: Michael Lawrence | Tuesday, January 31st, 2012SSR Issue Paper: Strategic Support to Security Sector Reform in Afghanistan, 2001-2010
By: Geoff Burt | Thursday, January 26th, 2012The lack of strategic direction and political agreement in security sector reform (SSR) in Afghanistan is an ongoing struggle. The latest CIGI SSR Issue Paper by Tom Hamilton-Baillie and Christian Dennys is entitled, “Strategic Support to Security Sector Reform in Afghanistan, 2001-2010″ and focuses on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, in addition to police and army
A Complex Systems Approach to the Drug War in Mexico: Resources, Violence and Order
By: Geoff Burt | Friday, January 20th, 2012CIGI Researcher Michael Lawrence has published a paper at the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Complexity and Innovation entitled “A Complex Systems Approach to the Drug War in Mexico: Resources, Violence and Order.” While other accounts stress the chaotic turmoil of the conflict, this approach begins by examining the relationship between the violence and the
SSR Issue Paper: Security Sector Governance in Pakistan: Progress, But Many Challenges Persist
By: Geoff Burt | Friday, January 13th, 2012The US Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound on May 2, 2011 brought into question the Pakistani army’s domination over nearly all aspects of the state. Pakistanis wondered how these events could have occurred right under the nose of the military. The latest SSR Issue Paper examines the prospects for security sector governance
SSR Issue Paper: Financing Security Sector Reform
By: Geoff Burt | Wednesday, January 4th, 2012The latest paper in CIGI’s SSR Issue Papers series by Alejandro Pachon focuses on the size of external support for SSR activities, showing that agencies often discuss the effectiveness of SSR programming without the benefit of a comprehensive system for tracking SSR assistance. It examines the information that is often used to demonstrate how international
New Report on Organized Crime and Urban Violence in Latin America
By: Michael Lawrence | Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012From Mexico to Honduras to Ecuador, Latin American societies are increasingly buffeted by the complex threat of violent criminality - from street gangs to transnational organized crime - and their governments are today mounting highly militarized responses to the challenge. A new Brookings Institution report by Vanda Felbab-Brown (entitled ”Bringing the State to the Slum: Confronting
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