Justice and Security

The governance of territories, people and resources is a politically contested issue. In the south it is concerned with questions of who controls the security forces and of how conflicts should be solved and justice and security be provided. At the same time, access of citizens to justice and security in their daily lives is held as a precondition for democratisation and economic development by the UN, EU and OECD-DAC. The ‘Justice and Security’ theme explores the political dynamics of justice enforcement and internal security provisions in contexts where the regulative monopoly of state law and institutions is challenged by a range of non-state justice and security providers.

After a decade of substantial investment in Security and Justice Sector Reforms with an almost exclusive focus on state building, international aid agencies and Southern governments are now increasingly drawn towards engaging non-state actors in various ways. The research theme examines the implementation of such reforms by analyzing the complex and often contested interactions between formal state institutions – the police, courts and administrations – and different types of non-state providers, including vigilante groups, traditional leaders, community courts, youth brigades, and community policing forums. Research focuses on the implications of these shifts for the sovereign authority of the state, access to justice and security, and the establishment of authority at the local level in the south.

Contributing DIIS researchers:

Helene Maria Kyed; Lars Buur; Peter Alexander Albrecht; Louise Wiuff Moe.

Contributing programmes and projects:

The Sovereignty of Patha-Patha: Crime, Citizenship and Public Authority in the new South Africa; Decentralisation of Security Provisions and Citizenship. Community Policing in Mozambique and Ghana; Security Sector Reform in Sierra Leone.

Download documents from the conference 'Access to Justice and Security', Copenhagen 1-2 November 2010

Download documents from the conference 'State and Non-State Mechanisms of Justice and Security' Mozambique, April 2010:

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