Deconstructing local ownership of security sector reform: A review of the literature

Since the late 1990s the concept of security sector reform (SSR) has entered the repertoire of international development aid as a means to good governance, democratisation, development and conflict transformation (Brzoska 2003). SSR is understood to be a comprehensive reform process with the aim of making the institutions that are responsible for protecting society more accountable to individual citizens and communities and more responsive to their security needs, while ensuring that they become or remain effective and efficient in the provision of security.