Can Africa's military establishments be brought under democratic control? Final report.
Abstract
The project has aimed to increase empirical understanding of how and in what conditions democratic governance and in particular democratic control over African military and security establishments has been consolidated. It has examined the lessons of earlier African transitions, and why they failed to prevent military re-intervention. It has delineated the very diverse historical trajectories followed by African states in moving, or attempting to move, from military or authoritarian to democratic governance. It has analysed recent military and security sector reform initiatives, and the main obstacles facing them, including the legacies of authoritarianism, and the new perils arising from disintegrating states and armies and from spreading armed conflict. And finally, it has made a detailed scrutiny of existing mechanisms of accountability and control over military and security establishments, and of how they have changed during transitions to democratic governance. This final report outlines the goals of the research, approach and methods, findings and their dissemination.
Citation
DFID, London, UK, 10 pp.
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