Security sector reform, democratization and constitutional reform are intrinsically linked. The constitution-building process can therefore provide a critical forum for negotiations over changes in the relationship between civilian and security sector institutions. This Policy Paper aims to support advisors and decision-makers in navigating these complex transitions. The Paper focuses on the relationship between security sector reform (SSR) and constitutional reform processes. While SSR and constitution-building are typically seen as separate issues, in practice they are deeply interconnected, and the success of a transition to constitutional democracy depends on the successful handling of security sector issues. Constitutional reform and SSR processes intersect in democratic transitions from military rule, civil war and authoritarian regimes.

Security sector reform (SSR) is central to the democratic transitions currently unfolding across the globe, as a diverse range of countries grapple with how to transform militias, tribal forces, and dominant military, police, and intelligence agencies into democratically controlled and accountable security services. SSR will be a key element in shifts from authoritarian to democratic rule for the foreseeable future, since abuse of the security sector is a central technique of autocratic government. This edited collection advances solutions through a selection of case studies from around the world that cover a wide range of contexts.

This updated and revised second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Peacebuilding contains cutting-edge analyses of contemporary attempts to reach and sustain peace. The book covers the main actors and dynamics of peacebuilding, as well as the main challenges that it faces, with accessible chapters. The volume is comprehensive, covering everything from the main international institutions for peacebuilding to the links between peacebuilding and climate change, or peacebuilding and trauma. It is also firmly interdisciplinary, with a number of chapters devoted to showcasing how different disciplines interpret peacebuilding and how they contribute to it. Bringing together leading thinkers and practitioners on peacebuilding, many from the Global South, the handbook offers a valuable “hands-on” perspective on how peace can be secured and sustained. There is a significant emphasis on comparison and the book shows how peacebuilding is best examined from the vantage point of multiple cases. The book is organised into six thematic sections: Part I: Architecture and Actors Part II: Reading Peacebuilding Part III: Issues and Approaches Part IV: Violence and Security Part V: Everyday Living Part VI: Disciplinary Approaches This book will be essential reading for students of peacebuilding, mediation and post-conflict reconstruction, and of great interest to students of statebuilding, intervention, civil wars, conflict resolution, war and conflict studies and IR in general.

This Security Sector Reform (SSR) Paper offers a universal and analytical perspective on the linkages between Security Sector Governance (SSG)/SSR (SSG/R) and Sustainable Development Goal-16 (SDG-16), focusing on conflict and post-conflict settings as well as transitional and consolidated democracies. Against the background of development and security literatures traditionally maintaining separate and compartmentalized presence in both academic and policymaking circles, it maintains that the contemporary security- and development-related challenges are inextricably linked, requiring effective measures with an accurate understanding of the nature of these challenges. In that sense, SDG-16 is surely a good step in the right direction. After comparing and contrasting SSG/R and SDG-16, this SSR Paper argues that human security lies at the heart of the nexus between the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations (UN) and SSG/R. To do so, it first provides a brief overview of the scholarly and policymaking literature on the development-security nexus to set the background for the adoption of The Agenda 2030. Next, it reviews the literature on SSG/R and SDGs, and how each concept evolved over time. It then identifies the puzzle this study seeks to address by comparing and contrasting SSG/R with SDG-16. After making a case that human security lies at the heart of the nexus between the UN’s 2030 Agenda and SSG/R, this book analyses the strengths and weaknesses of human security as a bridge between SSG/R and SDG-16 and makes policy recommendations on how SSG/R, bolstered by human security, may help achieve better results on the SDG-16 targets. It specifically emphasizes the importance of transparency, oversight, and accountability on the one hand, and participative approach and local ownership on the other. It concludes by arguing that a simultaneous emphasis on security and development is sorely needed for addressing the issues under the purview of SDG-16.

The first book in English on the law and politics of federalism and decentralization in the MENA region.

Countries often amend their constitutions or enact new ones following major political events, such as the founding of newly independent states, the fall of an authoritarian regime or the end of violent conflict. Significant constitutional reform at a crucial moment is often a high-stakes process because a constitution regulates access to public power and resources among different groups. While disagreements over divisive topics are likely and even inherent to constitution-making, they may also result in a serious deadlock when stakeholders are unable to reach agreement. A prolonged deadlock can delay or even derail the whole reform process. In this context, it may be advisable to create incentives that can help parties to the negotiations overcome divergence and resolve deadlocks should they occur. This Constitution Brief focuses on strategies and mechanisms for breaking a deadlock in constitutional negotiations conducted in an environment of competitive democratic politics.

Over the past two decades, the field of comparative constitutional law has emerged as a major domain of scholarly inquiry. It has also been a notable feature in judicial practice. Many of the world's leading courts are now composed of at least some members who engage with comparative materials, and thinking comparatively has developed into one of the most significant ways of engaging in constitutional analyses. Redefining Comparative Constitutional Law: Essays for Mark Tushnet reflects upon the field of comparative constitutional law. Among the most prominent figures in the development of the field in its ongoing renaissance has been Mark Tushnet. This book uses the occasion of Professor Tushnet's recent retirement from Harvard Law School to think critically about the field. Each essay takes up one of Professor Tushnet's major recent themes which focuses on variations within liberal constitutionalism and the possibility of other forms of constitutionalism that find articulation under other political regimes. In this book, leading scholars contribute to the debate over the nature of the field, including the role of empiricism and language; discussions of democracy and entrenchment; analyses of rights and courts; consideration of constitutional design; and explorations of the extent to which there are varieties of constitutionalism. At a moment of renewed stress and political debate over the relationship between democracy and constitutionalism, Redefining Comparative Constitutional Law: Essays for Mark Tushnet offers timely insights into comparative analyses of constitutional rights. Academics and students alike will benefit from the essays that range across both methodological questions and substantive analysis in the development of constitutions throughout the globe.

Comparative constitutional law has a long and distinguished history in intellectual thought and in the construction of public law. As political actors and the people who create or modify their constitutional orders, they often wish to learn from the experience and learning of others. This cross-fertilization and mutual interaction have only accelerated with the onset of globalization, which has transformed the world into an interconnected web that facilitates dialogue and linkages across international and regional structures. Oxford Comparative Constitutionalism seeks to publish scholarship of the highest quality in constitutional law that deepens our knowledge of local, national, regional, and global phenomena through the lens of comparative public law. Book jacket.

This book begins with a simple observation: none of South Africa’s presidents since Nelson Mandela have held any ministerial portfolios. This is in contrast to the nine men who ruled the country during its Union and Apartheid eras (1910-1994), from Louis Botha to F.W. de Klerk. They had all had previously served in cabinet, in as many as 6 portfolios each, sometimes with more than one ministry under their control. Crucially, many often took up ministerial positions during their own premierships and presidencies, thereby leading from the front. This is the key difference in state performance between the pre-democratic and democratic periods, the book argues. It explains the shortcomings of the post-1994 order, despite the evident potential, legitimacy and aspirations attached to it. In this book, Ndzendze systematically argues and empirically demonstrates that the only method to close this gap is by (re)initiating double roles for sitting presidents in all future administrations: those who head the cabinet should be both ministers and presidents at the same time. This would be constitutional, feasible and guarantee transparency towards presidential performance. Bhaso Ndzendze is Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Johannesburg. He is also Vice-Dean in the Faculty of Humanities, and was previously Head of Department for Politics and International Relations at the same institution. His NRF-rated research focus area is sovereignty, and has seen scientific publications on executive power, territorial disputes, interstate wars, military technology and international trade. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of the Witwatersrand and a postgraduate diploma in Law from the University of Johannesburg. Ndzendze is also a member of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution and has a regular column in the Daily Maverick.