Peace & Stability Operations Journal Online
Ethical Considerations in Security Sector Reform
by LTC Jeff Calvert
The idea of a state security sector, or more broadly the systems
and decisions around the control and legitimate use of force
within any particular society, and civilization more generally, is
central to the very concept of a functional and enduring modern world order. In the interest of collective security and peaceful coexistence of people with diverse individual interests and
beliefs, each individual relinquishes a portion of their personal
sovereignty and confers it to the state, expecting the state to
provide protection, to keep in check the primal brutality that
lies just beneath the surface of any society and threatens from
beyond the borders of the state.
Because of the central and enduring nature of security and its
intimate and far-reaching association with nearly every aspect
of modern life, the ethical nature of the security sector and of
Security Sector Reform (SSR) is critical. Whenever the state
or outside agents embark upon SSR, they must understand that
they are operating upon a vital organ of state legitimacy where
the stakes are invariably high with outcomes that are often hard
to predict, and therefore the ethics of any such endeavor are of
utmost importance. What are these ethics? What moral values
must guide an understanding of what is permissible, what is
essential, and what is prohibited in situations where leaders of
good intention are working to build or reform the security sector, at home or in another country?
Ethics of the Objective Security Sector: Stewardship & Legitimacy
The range of potential scenarios—and thus the range of answers
to the ethical questions—is extensive. All states undertake SSR
in some form as they modernize, often on their own. Sometimes, assistance with SSR is requested by a cooperative partner
and at other times it is imposed by intervening states. Often
SSR means helping with incremental changes to improve an
existing system in a relatively stable nation; other times it means
implementing wholesale change in an unstable, dysfunctional,
or tyrannical nation, or establishing a serviceable security
system within a territory that has never enjoyed the benefits of
a functional modern state. SSR is difficult even in developed
states, and the range of cultural parameters and geo-political
factors in each of these latter situations adds greater ethical
complexity. In short, the scope of SSR is broad, its contexts
vary greatly, and comprehensive ethical guidelines are elusive.
Nonetheless, ethical thinking about SSR is improved by considering three broad frameworks: the ethics of the objective security sector, the ethics of getting involved in the security sector of
another state, and the ethical obligations after involvement.
In the 21st century world order, recognition of the primacy of
the people of a state, and the state’s role as a steward and guarantor of their universal rights, are primary ethical requirements for
any security sector. A legitimate democratic state accepts that
all rights and all concepts of sovereignty begin at the level of the
individual, and the state has only that sovereignty granted it collectively by its citizens. As steward of this collective sovereignty,
it is the ethical responsibility of the state to ensure that security
sector mechanisms act at all times in the interest of the people
in pursuit of their inalienable rights, rather than in the interests
of statism or elites. When the people of the state accept the
ends, ways, and means associated with the security sector, and
trust its conduct in the pursuit of the interests of the people, the
security sector has internal legitimacy. When the international
community recognizes a state’s proper stewardship as measured
by its acceptance and adherence to widely accepted sets of international ethical standards with regard to security, for example
the Geneva Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the state enjoys external legitimacy.
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pksoi.army.mil
Abdul Raziq, Kunar chief of justice, speaks to 70 mullahs and
religious leaders Oct. 27, 2009, in Asadabad about the rule of
law. Kunar province hosted rule of law training to teach influential people about legal rules and constitutional rights. The
Kunar director of Hajjand Religious Affairs approached coalition forces for assistance to teach religious leaders about legal
awareness, constitutional law and rights, as well as about anticorruption, anti-insurgency and anti-drugs.