State Responsiveness to Public Security Needs: The Politics of Security Decision-Making Uganda Country Study

Security sector reform (SSR) has moved rapidly up the international aid agenda during the past decade. There is growing recognition that SSR is fundamentally a political activity and that, to be effective, external assistance must be carefully tailored to the political and institutional context in which it is being delivered.

This Uganda study was part of a comparative research project (which included Nigeria and Sri Lanka) which had two aims: firstly, to enhance understanding about who makes decisions about security, the factors which influence decision-making, and the consequences for the security of people; and secondly, to suggest ways of incorporating such knowledge more effectively into UK SSR programming.

The study was conducted by the Conflict, Security and Development Group at King’s College London in collaboration with the Centre for Democracy and Development in Nigeria, the Social Scientists’ Association in Sri Lanka, and the Centre for Basic Research in Uganda.