Training for Security Sector Reform - CESS Security Sector Reform ... nance in the security sector...

Training for Security Sector Reform

starlink-brochure-2010-v2.indd 1 28-04-10 15:20

T R a i n i n g f o R S e c u R i T y S e c T o R R e f o R m


a perilous scandal Should I have taken the money

and kept my mouth shut? If I had, I wouldn’t be worrying

now about the mafia at my door. But no, I am a journalist. So

I will write the story. I must. The world needs to know that

a minister is trying to silence me by threatening me with

his criminal connections. And that’s not even the big story.

Croania’s minister of defence wants to send soldiers to a

peace support operation in dangerous Kushdara, where

many of them will die. As a reward, he has been promised

a job at a prestigious American think tank when he leaves

the government. That’s the big story, and it will cause the

mother of all scandals. I wonder if I’ll live long enough to

cover it.

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Welcome to croania Fictitious Croania, somewhere south of Russia, is the setting for a simulation exer-cise that dramatically shows how difficult it is for a democracy to get a grip on the security sector. Espe-cially a young democracy. Trainees play the parts of ministers, parliamentarians, journalists, civil servants and civil-society representatives in this post-Soviet republic. Not only do they learn about democratic gover-nance in the security sector in an entertaining fashion. They experience, directly and personally, the challenges involved in overseeing the security sector.

To be useful, the military, the police and the intelligence services must first of all be effective. But if they are to ensure human security, they must also operate transpa-rently, accountably and under the rule of law. How can this be achieved? That is the subject of the SSR training programmes at the Centre for European Security Studies (www.cess.org), based in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Starlink The first SSR training programme at CESS was called Starlink and ran in Armenia, Azerbaijan Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, South East Europe and Ukraine. Today, ‘Starlink’ refers to a set of training program-mes and tools that can serve to promote security sec-tor reform (SSR) anywhere in the world. Starlink is spon-sored by the Netherlands government and the OSCE. CESS runs the courses together with local partners in the host countries.

CESS has also developed SSR training courses for use by the European Commission, the Council of the EU and the OECD. These are all based on the OECD DAC Hand-book on Security System Reform which reflects current thinking on SSR in the international community. Often, the purpose of these courses is to enhance the capacity of donors to provide appropriate support for SSR in developing and transition countries.

audience The SSR training courses at CESS are mainly meant for young professionals working in the secu-rity agencies and in parliament, the media and civil society. In the classroom, they represent a large variety of expertise, perspectives and concerns. The roles they are given in the simulation exercise are always different from what they do in real life. An MOD official will be asked to play a journalist, an NGO official a minister, etc.

ceSS tools for SSR training

• Training courses• Simulation exercises• Teaching packs and trainers’ manuals• Training for trainers


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they will become corrupt, violate the rights of citizens, become a state within the state and wield undue poli-tical power. Thus a lack of democratic governance can turn the armed agencies of the state into a threat to the population and the constitution.The only available remedy is oversight. In well-governedcountries, various branches of government hold each other in check. Politicians and civil servants face constant scrutiny by parliament, the judiciary, the media and civil society. If they abuse their power, they risk disgrace, dismissal and punishment. This system is built on laws, institutions, and a culture of account-ability. It does not guarantee honest behaviour by all government officials, all of the time. But it drives home the message that honesty is the best policy.

Many young democracies have the laws and institutions required for democratic governance, but lack the culture of accountability. Our Starlink training courseswere designed with these countries in mind.

Working together in this way, they not only improve their knowledge of the subject, but also their understan-ding of the responsibilities and difficulties faced by other practitioners. One trainee pointed out that this was the first time that representatives of government and civil society in her country sat down at the same table to dis-cuss security policy.

Democratic governance The state must inform the citizens. Politicians and officials must account for their actions. Finally, the law applies equally to all citizens, high and low. The principles of democratic governance are clear enough, and everyone is in favour of them—in theory. In practice, they meet a lot of resistance, and it is hard to apply them consistently. Sadly, democratic governance is most difficult to achieve where it is most urgently needed, namely in the security sector.

Armed forces, law enforcement agencies and intelli-gence services deal with sensitive information, and are naturally inclined to be secretive about their work. The less transparent they are, the less the legislature, the judiciary and the media can hold them to account. And the less accountable they are, the greater the risk that


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good governance ...

“... is epitomised by predictable, open and enlight-ened policy-making, a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos acting in furtherance of the public good, the rule of law, transparent processes, and a strong civil society unengaged in public life and widespread corruption.”

Governance: The World’s Bank Experience, Washington DC, 2004.


courses on SSR Three to five days of instruction in the local language provide trainees with a good understanding of democratic governance and the specific challenges it poses in the security sector. Currently, the courses focus on the defence establishment, law enforcement, intelligence and disaster response. In each course, the trainees are drawn from various parts of government and society.

course schedule Each three-day course opens with an interactive introduction to the principles of democratic government. At the end of the first morning, trainees apply these principles in discussing a recent political event in their country. If the stage has been set successfully, the trainees are now sufficiently confident and comfortable to be able to critically discuss their own government’s actions in the presence of foreigners.

On the afternoon of the first day, one or two topics of a more operational nature (e.g. Integrated Border Ma-nagement or Combating Terrorism) are scheduled. The second day is entirely devoted to a role-play exercise, and the third day is taken up by a ‘post mortem’ ana-lysis of the role-play, a continuing discussion of parlia-mentary oversight, the evaluation of the course, and the awarding of certificates.

modules Due to the intensive style of teaching, each course can train a maximum of 25 young professio-nals. To get around this limitation and support local training initiatives, the training programme has commissioned a series of modules that put together everything an instructor needs to teach a particular subject. Internationally renowned experts are developing these modules, which are owned by CESS but will be made available for free to bona fide users around the world. The authors testdrive the modules in the courses. Subsequently, the modules are often taught by other eperts, sometimes from the transistion countries. In order to be universally useful, the modules are generic. Consequently, in each particular course, they are adapted to meet the needs of a particular audience.

ceSS Training courses on SSRFive-Day Courses• Introductory Course on SSR• Advanced Course on SSR• Training of SSR Trainers• Responding Effectively and Democratically

to Security Challenges• Fighting Terrorism and Organised Crime

Three-Day Courses• Democratic Governance in the Security Sector:

Defence• Democratic Governance in the Security Sector:

Law Enforcement• Democratic Governance in the Security Sector:

Intelligence• Democratic Governance in the Security Sector:

Disaster Response

Training modules

Every training module has an extensive teacher’s manual and handouts for the trainees. Exercises and PowerPoint presentations are integrated in the modules. All the material is available in English and meets the highest presentation standards. Bona fide users can apply to [email protected] to request a free user’s licence.


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CESS is also helping local universities, military and police academies and NGOs to set up SSR training courses of their own, based on the CESS material.

oecD promotes Security System Reform CESS is one of several institutes that are teaching and propa-gating the approach developed in the OECD DAC Hand-book on Security System Reform. Our training tools are being used in OECD-sponsored training courses, and CESS courses are making use of the OECD material. One of the distinctive features of the OECD DAC approach to SSR is that it focuses mainly on developing

countries, while the CESS SSR training programme has so far mostly addressed the needs of transitional countries in the former Soviet Union and the Western Balkans.

Simulation At the heart of each CESS course is a simulation exercise which takes a whole day of training, followed by a ‘post mortem’ analysis on the next morning. CESS has developed a role-play exercise for each of the current courses. Most games are set in the fictitious post-Soviet republic Croania, somewhere south of Russia. The box provides some examples.


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Role-Play exercises1. Purchasing Uniforms in CroaniaParliament has commissioned an inquiry into alleged irregularities in the procurement of 35.000 army uniforms. The quality is questionable, the price is high, delivery is late, and the minister did not follow the prescribed procedure. Besides, he granted the order to a friend of his. His opponents are demanding his resignation and bringing up previous scandals he was involved in. Will the parliamentary committee of inquiry establish the truth? What action will it recommend, if any? Will the minister be held accountable?

2. Immigrants in Croania Croania is a country of immigrants, but there is growing aversion to the influx of illegal immigrants, who are held responsible for rising crime rates. Recently, the police shot dead three illegal immigrants in a street of the capital city. In response to the public commotion about this incident, the legislature has scheduled a public hearing and a parliamentary debate about the treatment of immigrants in Croania. The government and the police are facing heavy criticism both from people who feel that the immigrants rights’ are being violated, and from anti-immigration groups.

3. Sending Peacekeepers to KushdaraCroania’s government wants to send peacekeepers to Kushdara, a country under threat from terrorist groups. Before parliament approves or rejects this mission, which will expose Croanian soldiers to grave risks, it wants full information on the government’s motives, the nature of the mission, and the situation in Kushdara. It is not satisfied by the information provided by the government and demands access to a military intel-ligence report on Kushdara. The government says it cannot provide the report for reasons of national security. Will this clash between the need for trans-parency in a matter of life and death, and the need to protect state secrets be resolved?

4. Handling a Natural Disaster in CroaniaWhen an earthquake struck the Bakara valley, the government provided swift relief. However, it did not use the foreign assistance offered. Its preventive measures to limit the impact of an earthquake are considered inadequate. Besides, it is accused of having misused emergency powers obtained under the Law on Emergencies to silence some of its political opponents. Parliament establishes a committee of inquiry to look into these issues.


an unforgettable experience Whatever the outcome of the game, which is often a surprise to the instructors, it is always fascinating to see democratic principles operating in practice. Almost invariably, the players are elated about the game and the way the problems of democratic oversight are made painfully tangible.

CESS instructors believe that long after their trainees have forgotten the rest of the course, they will recall the game. Some of the trainees’ comments are indicative of the exercise’s impact:

“Yesterday when you told us about democratic governance,

I thought I knew that stuff. Now that I have played the game I really understand

what you meant.”

“it makes me sick the way i played that politician. i didn’t think i had it in

me. i am not proud i have it in me.”

“It’s one thing to hear you tell us how difficult it is for parliaments to stand up to the executive. It’s quite a

different matter to feel parliament’s weakness. It hurts.”

“It wasn’t until the post mortem that I realised how undemocratic the actions of my character were.”

“Even the game controllers didn’t notice that I sold the compromising information to the highest bidder.”

“I was shocked when the Minister of Defence

threw half a glass of water in the face of the

opposition leader. She had really got to him.

Thank goodness it was only water.”

“I will never forget this game.”


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SSR training at ceSS today In early 2010, we con-cluded our Starlink training programme in Kazakhstan and were engaged in a joint training programme with RACVIAC Centre for Security Co-operation in Croatia. RACVIAC serves the whole region of South East Europe, so the courses we run there are, unusually, taught in English. At RACVIAC, we teach an introductory course, an advanced course and a train-the-trainers course on SSR. This work is being sponsored by the governments of the Netherlands, Norway and other countries.

We have begun preparing to teach SSR courses with a focus on organised crime, terrorism and disaster response in Kyrgyzstan, with the support of the UK government and the OSCE.

In Turkey, we are launching a series of training work-shops on good governance in the security sector. We also offer training courses for post-conflict SSR in Central Africa.

in a nutshell, ceSS’s training courses on SSR:

• are mostly developed and owned by civil society; • are supported by governments;• are run in the host country and in the

local language; • address mixed audiences; • look at the whole security sector and

its environment; • focus on new democracies; • advocate universal principles of democratic rule; • promote an exchange of experiences; • provide training, not lectures, and: • develop teaching material for local use.


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ceSS The Centre for European Security Studies is an independent non-governmental organisation based in the north of the Netherlands. From our office in the old university town of Groningen, we have been promoting democratic approaches to security policy since 1993. Working with NGO and government partners throughout Eastern Europe, South-Eastern Europe and the southern Caucasus, we organise seminars, courses, debates and research projects on democracy and defence.

For more information on CESS and its activities please visit www.cess.org. You can also reach us at [email protected].

Mission statement

The Centre for European Security Studies (CESS) is an independent institute for research, consultancy, education and training, based in the Netherlands. Its aim is to promote transparent, accountable and effective governance of the security sector, broadly defined. It seeks to advance democracy and the rule of law, help governments and civil society face their security challenges, and further the civilised and lawful resolution of conflict.

CESS is international, multidisciplinary and collaborative. Its work is part of the European quest for peace and security both within and outside Europe. CESS encourages informed debate, empowers individuals, fosters mutual understanding on military and other security matters, promotes and sustains democratic structures and processes and supports reforms that favour stability and peace.

The Staff of the Centre for European Security Studies.


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Lutkenieuwstraat 31a9712 AW GroningenThe Netherlands

T +31 (0)50 313 25 20F +31 (0)50 313 25 06

[email protected]

CESS training programmes are sponsored by the Netherlands, United Kingdom,German, Norwegian, Sweudish, US and other governments, as well as byorganisations like the EU, NATO, the OECD and the OSCE.


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