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The Influence of Research on British-Led SSR Policy in Sierra Leone: Post-conflict Period, 2002–2013

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Research in Security Sector Reform Policy

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Abstract

The second part of the book moves the discussion from theory to practice and presents the main findings of the data collected in the course of the study. Chapters 5 and 6 analyse in depth the role played by research in British-led SSR policy in Sierra Leone. They explore and describe the narratives and interactions between policy and research and the evolution of the policy network of SSR policy-makers, street-level bureaucrats, and researchers working on rebuilding and reforming the security institutions of conflict-affected Sierra Leone. The two chapters visually show how this network, and the role of researchers within it, evolved over the years, developing and growing from a first conflict phase to the post-conflict years. The chapters examine how two main variables, namely an increasing stability of the Sierra Leone context and a progressive evolution of SSR as policy at UK and international levels and as related research agenda, contributed to the evolution of the policy network, and, by extension, to an increased influence of research in British-led SSR policy in the country. In this way, Chaps. 5 and 6 provide an account of the role played by research in British-led SSR policy in Sierra Leone, as well as a visual understanding of the evolution of the network of policy-makers, street-level bureaucrats, and research actors working on such policies over the years. Focusing respectively on the conflict and on the post-conflict periods, the two chapters have a parallel structure that analyses the historical context, the evolution of SSR policy and research, and the role of research in the SSR policy process. This parallel structure facilitates the comparison between the two historical periods and shows how a more stable country context and a progressive evolution of SSR policy and research at British and international level contributed to an incremental rise in the use of research by street-level bureaucrats working on the ground.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Conflict Armament Research, London, UK

    Andrea Edoardo Varisco

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  1. Andrea Edoardo Varisco
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Correspondence to Andrea Edoardo Varisco .

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Varisco, A.E. (2018). The Influence of Research on British-Led SSR Policy in Sierra Leone: Post-conflict Period, 2002–2013. In: Research in Security Sector Reform Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58675-9_6

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