The World is in Transition

The rise of the new Progressivism in 21th century: democratization of the world and the necessity for transformation of the security sector

The world has been in transition. From the dictatorship that surged in many new-born nations after the sequential decolonization followed by WWII, today we see thousands and millions of people throughout the globe demanding the true democracy in the government. [1] This period is the “new” Progressivism; it is a time for new social and political reforms and preparation and adjustment period for the new democratically transforming global society. In addition, as the society reshapes more democratically, the role of the security sectors also seems to be drastically redefined, from “terrorizing tool of government” to “the protector of daily lives of civilians”. However, even today, it is still a common task for all in finding the best method to ensure the protection of civilians under “rules of law” [2] and build trust between the two groups.

The Security Sector Reform, or SSR, mainly necessitates two elements to maximize its effectiveness in countries in transition; first, there must be integrated efforts of NGOs, civilians, and governmental movements in supporting the reform to more effectively collect funds and build trust and second, we must implement of effective measures such as merit-based selection or judicial branch reform to ensure eradication of corruption or misusage of power of security sector. The effectiveness of SSR could be categorized mainly into three groups: first, sufficiency of resources in making changes, second, the trusts from host nation civilians, and last, changes that are being made in the security sector of the countries. Currently, many governmental institutions...

... middle of paper ...

...use Sierra Leone was able to encourage civilian participation in SSR, establish Office of National Security which is taking leading role in national security change, and draw support from Britain, it could eventually reap the fruits from SSR. [10] Also, because El Salvador was able to reform security sector dramatically and redefine the roles of the military and police, it ended up with success story. [11]

Therefore, in order to make SSR more effective and fruitful, three factors should be met; first, built of faith and trust between host country civilian and security sector by active civilian participation; second, collection of sufficient funds from aid of global community and NGOs; last, the effective reform measure of security sector. Only when there is a mutual respect and trust between citizens and government, the democracy comes into reality and peace exists.