SSR and post-conflict reconstruction: armed wing of state-building?

Using a case taken from the reconstruction of Sierra Leone this paper outlines some of the key issues emerging after ten years of reconstruction efforts and also moves on to analyse what lessons can and can’t be drawn from this experience and what implications are for SSR going forward. The author goes ahead to explain the ideas such as;

• What is special about post-conflict States? The author writes that the study of post-conflict states is blessed with a wide and varied lexicon of terms that overlap, contradict and confuse whilst trying to describe varying forms of collapse. 
• SSR and State building where the author views the strong link that exists between SSR and state building as a global project. 
• Sierra Leone as an example of policy development in the field and the most cited example of successful SSR programming, particularly in the context of post conflict interventions.

However, there are a number of core themes that have recurred overtime and have importance for both the development of SSR more generally. This list represents some of the conclusions drawn from recent research. 

• National ownership and engagement is critical. Experience shows that it was Sierra Leone team that provided the continuity, with only a few external advisers remaining in country for substantial periods of time. 
• The danger in maintaining a strong core group of leaders of the process is that once the support mechanisms are removed, then the group becomes extremely powerful. 
• Engaging civil society is valuable and was operationalised in various ways in Sierra Leone. 
• By far the least developed element of oversight within is at the political, including parliamentary level.
• Individuals have played an important role on developing SSR in Sierra Leone. 
• Another significant aspect of UK collaboration was the signing of memorandum understanding in 1997, a long term agreement between the two countries scheduled to last until 2012. 
• The issue of sustainability also leads to a clash between external actors and national owners of the process.

Conclusion
In some ways the experience of Sierra Leone represents the orthodox approach to SSR. However, in reality once the empirical evidence is analysed much of the contemporary orthodox of SSR begins to look more like a constructed mythology rather than a coherent theory.