Implications for American, British and Other Allied Force Planning

Recent research carried out by organizations such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations and many other bilateral donors has drawn a clear link between the incidence of conflict, high levels of poverty, and underdevelopment. When crises occur, military and security forces will often be tempted to move into the power vacuum created by the collapse of state structures, operating outside the control of democratic institutions. As a result, states become unable to guarantee the security of their citizens and state structures lose their legitimacy. The relationship between conflict prevention and sustainable development has forced policymakers and practitioners to develop ways and means of reforming a country’s security sector at the earliest possible stages of intervention. Security sector reform (SSR) has, in the past, been conventionally addressed by development departments. However, there is now clear evidence that SSR strategies must be factored into pre-conflict, conflict and postconflict planning; they are not an issue for consideration just during postconflict reconstruction. This has implications for joint consultation and planning between all relevant ministries of donor countries, requiring policy provisions to be made during each stage of intervention. Lessons learned fro