Prospects for Middle East Security-Sector Reform

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1See Ellen Laipson (ed.), Security Sector Reform in the Gulf (Washington DC: Henry Stimson Center, May 2006), http://www.stimson.org/swa/pdf/StimsonSSRGulf.pdf, and diverse publications from the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces at http://www.dcaf.ch. 2For a useful discussion of the challenges to Palestinian security-sector governance, see The Role of the Palestinian Security Forces – Political and Legal Challenges, workshop report, The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces and the Palestinian Institute for International Humanitarian Law at Al-Quds University, Abu Dis/East-Jerusalem, February 2007, http://www.ssronline.org/edocs/palestiniansecurity.pdf. 3Statement by US Security Coordinator Lt–Gen. Keith W. Dayton before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 15 March 2006. 4Testimony before the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, 21 March 2007. 5Department of Defense, Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq, Report to Congress in accordance with the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2007, 2 March 2007, http://www.defenselink.mil/home/pdf/9010_March_2007_Final_Signed.pdf. See also Robert Perito, ‘Reforming the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Policy and Facilities Protection Services’, United States Institute of Peace Briefing, February 2007, http://www.usip.org/pubs/usipeace_briefings/2007/0207_iraqi_interior_ministry.html. 6See, for example, La Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior, Political Change in the Gulf States: Beyond Cosmetic Reform? Democracy Backgrounder 5 (Madrid: FRIDE, November 2006), http://www.fride.org/File/ViewLinkFile.aspx?FileId=1211. 7See http:// www.nato.int/ici/home.htm. 8See Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2006,available at http://www.freedomhouse.org. 9See Amr Hamzawy, ‘Amending Democracy Out of Egypt’s Constitution’, Washington Post, 2 April 2007. 10For excellent coverage of prospects for reform in Egypt and democracy promotion efforts of the United States, see Michele Dunne, Time to Pursue Democracy in Egypt,Policy Outlook No. 30 (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, January 2007), http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/Dunne_Egypt_FINAL2.pdf. 11The cases of Korea and Taiwan are often cited; in the 1980s, military-led governments initiated a process of political change, which led to significant overall and security-sector reform. See also Steven A. Cook, The Unspoken Power: Civil-Military Relations and the Prospects for Reform,Analysis Paper No. 7 (Washington DC: The Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, September 2004), http://www.brookings.org/dybdocroot/fp/saban/cook20040901.pdf. 12See Emile El-Hokayem and Matteo Legrenzi, ‘The Arab Gulf States in the Shadow of the Iranian Nuclear Challenge’, Henry L. Stimson Center Working Paper, 26 May 2006, pp. 6–8, http://www.stimson.org/pub.cfm?id=298. Additional informationNotes on contributorsEllen LaipsonEllen Laipson is the President and CEO of the Henry L. Stimson Center in Washington DC. She served in the US government for 25 years; her last position was Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council.