The Role of Security Sector Reforms (SSR) in Sustainable Human Security

Abstract

This article examines the role of Security Sector Reforms (SSR) in sustainable human security. The overarching question that the paper proffers is to what extent and in what design could SSR securitize human security? SSR addresses security problems and attempts to improve the situation through institutional reforms given the centrality of security and peace as the purview of public good. SSR is aimed at creating a secure environment that is conducive to development, poverty reduction, and democracy. The OECD thesis rests on two pillars, which inform the paper’s objectives. First is the ability of the state, through its development policy and programmes, to generate conditions that mitigate the vulnerabilities to which its people are exposed, and secondly, the ability of the state to use the range of policy instruments at its disposal to prevent or address security threats that affect society’s well-being.The article shall deploy the C-H model of Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler in situating SSR in sustainable human security. This shall further be buttressed by Jürgen Habermas’s concept of positive peace vis-à-vis negative peace. The study purposively sampled 60 respondents representing households in Nairobi City County. It concludes tentatively that the lower the risks or threats to human life, the better the security. In lieu of a conclusion, the paper recommends periodic evaluation and capacity enhancement of the holistic security architecture in sync with the ever-changing satisfaction of human needs.