Justice and Security Reform: Development Agencies and Informal Institutions in Sierra Leone 9780415642507, 9780203797273

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Maps
Introduction
SJSR and informal actors
The politics of development agencies
DFID’s SJSR in Sierra Leone
What is the informal?
A ‘thick’ method
Plan of the book
Notes
1.
The UK’s ‘African albatross’: DFID policy on Sierra Leone
‘A dirty war in West Africa’
Changing international times: Aid, development and security
The domestic context in the UK
Establishment of DFID
DFID and its place in the British civil service
Blair’s influence
New security and development strategies
DFID policy on Sierra Leone
State failure
Security-development nexus
Security sector reform
DFID policy revisted: A place for the informal?
Paramount Chiefs’ Restoration Programme
Conclusion
Notes
2.
‘Thicker’ understandings of conflict, security and governance
‘Thick’ versus ‘thin’
Chiefs: The ‘missing bottom’ of governance in Sierra Leone
History of chieftaincy
Taxation
Law and order
Custodians of culture
Land
‘Thick’ causes of war
Grievances against the state
Grievances against the chieftaincy system
Slavery
‘Strangers’
The need for chieftaincy reform
Conclusion
Notes
3.
A thickening blue line: challenges of informal policing for the Family Support Units
DFID involvement with the Family Support Units
The context of police reform efforts
The evolution of the Family Support Units
The Family Support Units: Purpose and procedures
Challenges to the Family Support Units
Physical accessibility, affordability and timeliness of FSUs
Limits of FSU justice
Cultural accessibility of FSUs
Policing by the chiefs
Policing by secret societies
Interactions between the policing systems
Conclusion
Notes
4.
Courting local justice: DFID’s Justice Sector Development Programme
Rule of law reform – ‘like apple pie and ice-cream’
Justice initiatives in Sierra Leone: The Special Court and the TRC
History of the justice system
Under colonialism
Throughout independence
Post-conflict legal system
DFID’s justice reform programmes
Informal justice reforms
Codification of customary law
Local Court reform
Judging primary justice reforms
Engagements remain overwhelmingly state-centric
Selective definition of the ‘informal’
Formalizing the informal
Problems with a thin understanding of the law
Customary law becomes frozen
Practices flout laws because reforms outstrip attitudinal change
The ‘informal informal’?
Conclusion
Notes
5.
Security and justice reform: political and bureaucratic constraints
Why the informal won’t simply disappear
Explaing the divergence in case studies
Explaining DFID’s lack of engagement with the informal
DFID as a bureaucratic organization
DFID as a political entity
Bureaucratic and political natures limit ‘thick’ understandings
Bureaucratic and political natures lead to state-centred SJSR
Normative bias of SJSR
Conclusion
Note
Conclusion: Living with or overcoming political and bureaucratic confines
Living with the confines: The security-developmentnexus
Overcoming the confines: What donors cando differently
Creating political space
The need for ‘thick’ understandings
Recruiting and promoting different skill sets
Breaking away from standard programming approaches
Beyond the iron cage of bondage?
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

Justice and Security Reform

Justice and Security Reform: Development Agencies and Informal Institutions in Sierra Leone undertakes a deep contextual analysis of the reform of the country’s security and justice sectors since the end of the civil war in 2002. Arguing that the political and bureaucratic nature of development agencies leads to a lack of engagement with informal institutions, this book examines the challenges of sustainably transforming security and justice in fragile states. Through the analysis of a post-conflict context often held up as an example of successful peacebuilding, Lisa Denney reveals how the politics of development agencies is an often forgotten constraint in security and justice reform and development efforts more broadly. Particularly suited to upper-level undergraduates and postgraduate students, as well as practitioners, this book is relevant to those interested in security and justice reform and statebuilding, as well as Sierra Leone’s post-conflict recovery. Lisa Denney is a researcher at the Overseas Development Institute working on issues of security, justice, development and fragile states. She completed her doctorate in International Politics at Aberystwyth University on security and justice reforms in Sierra Leone.

Law, development and globalization Edited by Julio Faundez University of Warwick

During the past decades, a substantial transformation of law and legal institutions in developing countries has taken place. Whether prompted by marketbased policies or the international human rights movement, by the relentless advance of the process of globalization or the successive waves of democratization, no area of law has been left untouched. The aim of this series is to promote cross-disciplinary dialogue and cooperation among scholars and development practitioners interested in understanding the theoretical and practical implications of the momentous legal changes taking place in developing countries. Titles in the series: State Violence and Human Rights: State Officials in the South Andrew M. Jefferson and Steffen Jensen (eds) The Political Economy of Government Auditing: Financial Governance and the Rule of Law in Latin America and Beyond Carlos Santiso Global Perspectives on the Rule of Law James J. Heckman, Robert L. Nelson and Lee Cabatingan (eds) Marginalized Communities and Access to Justice Yash Ghai and Jill Cottrell (eds) Law in the Pursuit of Development: Principles into Practice? Amanda Perry-Kessaris (ed.) Governance Through Development: Poverty Reduction Strategies and the Disciplining of Third World States Celine Tan Lawyers and the Rule of Law in an Era of Globalization Yves Dezalay and Bryant Garth (eds)

Policing and Human Rights: The Meaning of Violence and Justice in the Everyday Policing of Johannesburg Julia Hornberger Lawyers and the Construction of Transnational Justice Yves Dezalay and Bryant Garth (eds) Gender, Justice and Legal Pluralities: Latin American and African Perspectives Rachel Sieder and John McNeish Social Movements, Law and the Politics of Land Reform George Meszaros Justice and Security Reform: Development Agencies and Informal Institutions in Sierra Leone Lisa Denney From the Global to the Local, How International Rights Reach Bangladesh’s Children Andrea Schapper Land Law Reform in Eastern Africa: Traditional or Transformative? Patrick McAuslan Forthcoming titles in the series: Multinational Integration, Cultural Identity and Regional SelfGovernment, Comparative Experiences for Tibet Roberto Toniatti and Jens Woelk Governing Refugees: Justice, Order and Legal Pluralism Kirsten McConnachie Law and Society in Latin America Cesar Rodriguez Garavito Policing and the Politics of Order-Making Peter Albrecht and Helene Maria Kyed Justice Reform and Development: Rethinking Donor Assistance to Developing and Transitional Countries Linn Hammergren

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Justice and Security Reform

Development agencies and informal institutions in Sierra Leone

Lisa Denney

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First published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 A GlassHouse Book Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Lisa Denney The right of Lisa Denney to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Denney, Lisa. Justice and security reform : development agencies and informal institutions in Sierra Leone / Lisa Denney. pages cm. – (Law, development and globalization) ISBN 978-0-415-64250-7 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-203-79727-3 (ebk) 1. Justice, Administration of–Sierra Leone. 2. Internal security–Sierra Leone. 3. Law reform–Sierra Leone. 4. Law and economic development. I. Title. KTJ329.D46 2014 347.664–dc23 2013029444 ISBN: 978-0-415-64250-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-79727-3 (ebk) Typeset in Garamond by Cenveo Publisher Services

Contents

Acknowledgements Abbreviations Maps Introduction 1

2

3

4

5

ix xi xiii 1

The UK’s ‘African albatross’: DFID policy on Sierra Leone

15

‘Thicker’ understandings of conflict, security and governance

43

A thickening blue line: challenges of informal policing for the Family Support Units

68

Courting local justice: DFID’s Justice Sector Development Programme

93

Security and justice reform: political and bureaucratic constraints

121

Conclusion: Living with or overcoming political and bureaucratic confines

149

Bibliography Index

163 185

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Acknowledgements

I am indebted to many people who have helped me in writing this book. Beginning as my PhD thesis, Michael C. Williams, Hidemi Suganami, Alastair Finlan and Richard Rathbone provided me with rigorous supervisions that helped to forge the shape of the book. As examiners, Stephen Ellis and Jenny Mathers also helped to refine its scope and argument. The research would not have been possible without generous funding from the EH Carr Award, the Aberystwyth University Overseas Research Scholarship and the Gareth Jones Memorial Travelling Scholarship. In addition, I am grateful to my current employer, the Overseas Development Institute, for carving out some research time for me to complete this book – and to my colleagues there for creating an inspiring research environment. I’d like to thank all those in Sierra Leone and the UK who generously gave me their time and shared with me their knowledge and personal experiences. I was honoured to meet such extraordinary people and to have the opportunity to tell some of their stories. The arguments and omissions in the book, however, are of course my own. A number of experts kindly read parts of this book along the way and provided me with invaluable feedback that has strengthened the final product. To Peter Albrecht, Karen Barnes Robinson, Keith Biddle, Pilar Domingo, Paul Jackson, Clare Paine, Richard Rathbone and Mark White, your time and advice were very much appreciated. I would also like to thank the editorial team at Routledge for answering my many questions along the way and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. Some parts of this book have previously been published in other forms and I am grateful to the copyright holders for allowing their use here. An extract in Chapter 3 appeared in DAI’s Developing Alternatives journal in Summer 2011; and parts of Chapter 5 have appeared as a journal article in Development Policy Review in January 2013 and as an Overseas Development Institute Briefing Paper in April 2012. Thanks are also owed to Aubrey Wade, for providing the beautiful photo for the front cover, and to Professor John Innes Clarke, who kindly allowed

x

Acknowledgements

use of his impressive maps of Sierra Leone originally printed in 1966 (and for which no publisher could be found to claim copyright). To my friends who have sustained me through both the PhD and book process – I am immeasurably thankful for your humour, patience and wonderful company! To my parents and brothers back in Aus – thank you for your constant love, belief and support, even in the face of some not-so-popular trips to Sierra Leone. Finally, to my husband Daniel – who not only knows more than he could ever have wanted to about Sierra Leone having read every word of this book, but also cooked almost every dinner of the first year of married life – thank you. The book, and I, would be sorely lacking without you.

Abbreviations

ACPP AFRC APC ASJP CCSSP CDF CDIID CDU CGRP CHAD CISU CPP DDR DFID ECOMOG ECOWAS FCO FSU GCPP GoSL IGP ISU JSCO JSDP LDP LNP MLGRD MoDUK MSWGCA NPFL NPRC ODA

Africa Conflict Prevention Pool Armed Forces Revolutionary Council All People’s Congress Access to Security and Justice Programme Commonwealth Community Safety and Security Project Civil Defence Forces Complaints, Discipline and Internal Investigations Department Civil Defence Unit Chiefdom Governance Reform Programme Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Department Central Intelligence and Security Unit Conflict Prevention Pool Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration Department for International Development Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group Economic Community of West African States Foreign and Commonwealth Office Family Support Unit Global Conflict Prevention Pool Government of Sierra Leone Inspector General of Police Internal Security Unit Justice Sector Coordination Office Justice Sector Development Programme Law Development Programme Local Needs Policing Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Ministry of Defence Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs National Patriotic Front of Liberia National Provisional Ruling Council Overseas Development Agency

xii

Abbreviations

OECD ONS OSG PCRP PPJ PRSP RSLAF RUF SILSEP SJSR SLA SLP SLPP SSD SSR UNAMSIL UNOMSIL

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Office of National Security Operational Support Group Paramount Chiefs Restoration Programme Promoters of Peace and Justice Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces Revolutionary United Front Sierra Leone Security Sector Reform Programme Security and Justice Sector Reform Sierra Leone Army Sierra Leone Police Sierra Leone People’s Party Special Security Division Security Sector Reform United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone

Maps

Sierra Leone provincial and district boundaries

ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS

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NT ÜH E T H E R NÍ

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■ KAILAMUM (

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P R O V I,yN C E B O B OB O B O

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(Clarke 1969: 29)

40

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IIC/SJAN IIC/SJANIIC/SJAN IIC/SJAN IIC/SJAN IIC/SJANIIC/SJAN IIC/SJANIIC/SJAN IIC/SJAN IIC/SJANIIC/SJAN IIC/SJAN IIC/SJAN IIC/SJANIIC/SJAN IIC/SJANIIC/SJAN

xiv

Maps

Sierra Leone chiefdom boundaries

CHIEFDOMS

IIC/SJANIIC/SJANIIC/SJAN IIC/SJAN ■0