Book Description
Why are locally owned processes so critical to producing sustainable security sector reform? While academic literature has long noted that a central component of durable reforms is that they be context specific and involve deep engagement with the local population, there has been comparatively little explanation of why this is so important. This lack of explanation may be one reason this approach continues to be neglected in practice. This paper draws on North's theories of formal and informal institutions as well as literature from the field of new institutional economics to provide a more thorough explanation of why top- down reforms are unlikely to produce lasting change in the security sector. Without the support of local buy- in, reforms are simply too inefficient to be maintained.