ABSTRACT
For more than two decades a conventional approach to security promotion has been widely applied by multilateral and bilateral agencies during war-to-peace transitions. Advocates of this approach typically recommend a combination of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and security sector reform (SSR) to consolidate peace-making and peacebuilding processes. 1 Notwithstanding confidence in the prescription, there is little evidence that such interventions have contributed to any enduring cure. 2 Indeed, analysts have come to recognize that the political, economic and social conditions for DDR and SSR — including a relatively functional government, a reasonably stable labor market, and a minimum level of social trust are seldom sufficient for these interventions to take hold. Nevertheless, these orthodoxies persist in security promotion policy and practice.
