One trouble that many of us who work in and study security sector reform have is that we find actually measuring security a challenging concept. Due to a variety of factors - lack of good data, difficulty in operationalizing complicated social issues, and the specific aspects to focus on are just a few examples - 
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Tag | Nigeria
Measuring Security: Homicide as an Indicator of State Capacity In Oil-Producing States
By: Joe Derdzinski | Tuesday, June 7th, 2016Farmer-Herder Clashes Amplify Challenge for Beleaguered Nigerian Security
By: Michael W. Baca | Monday, July 20th, 2015Nigeria’s new president has made the task of finishing off the Boko Haram insurgency an immediate priority for his administration. Since his May 29 inauguration, Muhammadu Buhari has held multiple meetings with neighboring heads of state and relocated his anti-Boko Haram headquarters to the epicenter of the insurgency, in Borno State. Yet, while Nigeria’s security apparatus appears
Where Are Our Girls?
By: Ryan Cummings | Thursday, October 16th, 2014Boko Haram’s April 14 kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok has been one of the most provocative developments of its almost five-year insurgency against the Nigerian government. It has catalyzed a global protest campaign, drawing support from many of the world’s most influential citizens. It has aided the Nigerian
Too late to start worrying about the Islamic State in Africa
By: Simon Allison | Thursday, October 9th, 2014The spectre of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria casts a long shadow. It’s clearly not just the Middle East that is in trouble; both Britain and the United States have been worried enough to dispatch fighter jets to try and contain the Islamist rebels who have carved out huge chunks of territory as
Cameroon and the Growing Threat of Boko Haram Contagion
By: Ryan Cummings | Wednesday, August 20th, 2014On July 26, a group of heavily armed assailants attacked Kolofata, a Cameroonian town located near the country’s shared border with Nigeria. While there have been no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack, in which three people were killed and the wife of Cameroon’s deputy prime minister was kidnapped, the incursion conformed to the
Backgrounder – Boko Haram and Political Instability in Nigeria
By: Lema Ijtemaye | Tuesday, July 29th, 2014Boko Haram’s activities have been escalating steadily in Nigeria; the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Borno earlier this year being the most recent indicator of the group’s growing threat to Nigeria’s political stability. Indeed, the group is viewed by many experts as a direct challenge the state’s corrupt nature and its general inability to address
Caught on the Brink: Critical Reflections on Nigeria’s Counter-Insurgency/Terror Strategy
By: Chris Kwaja | Tuesday, May 6th, 2014In his seminal work, the former US Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell was unequivocal in his argument that Nigeria was “dancing on the brink” of real political instability, of the kind that was fully capable of truncating the state-building project. He identified several key factors that act as pointers to possible instability, including increased violence,
Publication Summary – Curbing Violence in Nigeria: The Boko Haram Insurgency
By: Lema Ijtemaye | Friday, April 11th, 2014A new publication by the International Crisis Group focuses on the effects of the political violence in Nigeria, specifically the violence caused by Boko Haram. The insurgency led by Boko Haram, now entering its fourth year and showing no signs of abating, has had a particularly debilitating effect on Nigeria, resulting in the displacement of
Informal Security Provisioning in Nigeria: Implications for Security Sector Governance
By: Chris Kwaja | Friday, April 4th, 2014Informal security providers have become the dominant feature of Nigeria’s security landscape. The inability of Nigeria’s state institutions to provide security for the people has created a security vacuum increasingly bridged by informal entities, which now constitute key actors in the security sector, notwithstanding the constitutional role of the formal security institutions. For the majority
News Roundup: 24 February - 2 March
By: SSR Resource Centre | Monday, March 3rd, 2014Want to keep up to date on the SSR field? Once a week, the SSR Resource Centre posts pertinent news articles, reports, projects and updates on SSR related events over the past week. Click here to sign-up for the SSR Weekly newsletter and have the News Roundup delivered straight to your inbox every week!
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