© USIP 2015 • All rights reserved.

United States Institute of Peace • www.usip.org • Tel. 202.457.1700 • 

UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE

@usip

“Government and civil 

society participants agree that 

building trust between the 

public and the security services 

is critical for improving the 

provision of security and 

realizing the region’s democratic aspirations.”

December 2015

Regional Security through Inclusive 

Reform in the Maghreb and the Sahel

Querine Hanlon

Email: qhanlon@strategiccapacity.org

Joyce Kasee

Email: jkasee@usip.org

PEACEBRIEF197

Introduction

Throughout the Maghreb and the Sahel, governments are struggling to manage a security environment that has been fundamentally transformed by the events of the Arab Spring. Escalating violence 

in Egypt and Tunisia risks the destabilization of already weakened governments, while ongoing 

conflicts in Libya and Mali have created safe havens for regional terrorist organizations and transnational criminal groups. Foreign fighters move rapidly across regional borders, sharing their routes 

with traffickers of guns, drugs, and people. The combination and magnitude of these threats pose an 

unprecedented challenge to the region’s security forces and the ministries that oversee them.1 Senior 

security officials are searching for answers to the region’s security conundrum: how to strengthen their 

existing institutions to protect against internal and external threats while also meeting the growing 

demands of their populations for real and meaningful security sector reform.2

The events of the Arab Spring ushered in a new set of expectations about the role and purpose of 

the security and justice sectors in the countries across the region and empowered their populations 

to demand fundamental reform. Pre-Arab Spring security institutions, which in places like Tunisia and 

Libya were designed for regime protection not public service, became the focal point for demands 

Summary

• In the countries of North and West Africa, few mechanisms exist for security officials and their 

civil society counterparts to work in concert to address the critical reform and security agendas.

• Regional knowledge sharing and collective problem solving can generate broader interest in 

and political support for the region’s reform agendas.

• One way to further the regional reform agenda is to improve citizen-police interactions, which 

can improve the lingering trust deficit and make the police more effective. Overcoming poor 

perceptions—of both police and citizens—is a key step in building community-security partnerships to create effective and responsive security institutions.

• Community-security partnerships are a valuable mechanism to balance the competing demands for security and reform and to redefine the role and purpose of security and justice sector 

institutions in an inclusive and transparent way in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. 

• Community-security partnerships affirm the state’s role in the provision of security while 

acknowledging the communities’ critical role in the process. 
© USIP 2015 • All rights reserved.

Regional Security through Inclusive Reform in the Maghreb and the Sahel

Page 2 • PB 197 • December 2015

to create security and justice institutions that could protect the lives and livelihoods of citizens and 

deliver justice in accordance with democratic principles and the rule of law. Elsewhere, in places like 

Mali, Niger, and Senegal, ongoing security sector reform efforts were given renewed attention to 

enhance the capacity of existing institutions and forces through good governance, effective oversight, and respect for human rights. Joined by a host of new institutions created in the aftermath of 

the Arab Spring, civil society organizations in many of these countries began, with different levels of 

success, to engage with their governments to promote reform. 

Throughout the region, however, the efforts on the part of both governments to secure their territories and civil society organizations to create accountable and transparent security institutions have 

proceeded almost wholly divorced from each other. Few mechanisms exist for security officials and 

their civil society counterparts to work in concert, either within their countries or with counterparts 

across the region. A variety of factors have stymied engagement, including pre-Arab Spring laws that 

restrict communication between security forces and populations and legacies of mistrust resulting 

from past abuses. On the part of security forces, engagement is limited by a lack of community outreach skills and persistent perceptions that civil society groups—and citizens more broadly—remain 

threats.The absence of community-security engagement has also contributed to the perception that 

effective security and meaningful reform cannot be achieved in parallel. As security conditions have 

worsened in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, even government proponents of reform have begun 

arguing that security must come first. Populations across the region have found that the doors to 

reform—and to their participation in shaping that reform—are increasingly closed.

Key Insights

Security officials and their civil society counterparts from North and West Africa have begun to work 

in concert to address the region’s shared challenges. The following are key insights resulting from that 

engagement.

Addressing the Trust Deficit 

Remarkably, both government and civil society participants agree that building trust between the 

public and the security services—the police, gendarmerie, and other security forces and the ministries 

that oversee them—is critical for improving the provision of security and realizing the region’s 

democratic aspirations. Both security forces and civil society also agree that trust is largely absent. 

“Trust doesn’t need to be rebuilt because it didn’t exist,” a senior security official explained. “We need 

to create it.” 3 Tunisian police officers go even further, suggesting that the lack of trust is actively eroding police capacity. Although police-citizen interactions on the street are often tense and sometimes 

violent, by working in concert with national and regional counterparts, the initial mistrust gave way to 

intense conversations and even problem solving. From both sides of the debate, participants identified the need for new training and communication protocols, as well as legal reform to remove the 

prohibitions on community-security engagement. “We are all immobilized,” a senior security official 

explained, “until the issues from our past are addressed so that we can move forward.” 4

Changing Poor Perceptions

One way to address the lingering trust deficit is to focus on the fact that police, in the words of 

one officer, “are citizens too.” 5 In numerous exchanges, police officers explained that they shared 

the frustration of civil society about the slow pace of reform. “We are afraid to act,” one participant 

explained, “because citizens have attacked us.” The security forces are hamstrung because the rules 

and regulations that govern their behavior are largely unchanged. “We don’t have the authority to act 
© USIP 2015 • All rights reserved.

Regional Security through Inclusive Reform in the Maghreb and the Sahel

Page 3 • PB 197 • December 2015

differently.” 6 Across the region, police officers recognize that their practices and procedures are at odds 

with democratic and human rights standards. Populations have few opportunities to engage with 

police officers, which furthers the perception of police officers as instruments of the old security apparatus. Participants from both sides of the debate acknowledge that initiatives to humanize the police 

can go a long way toward changing poor perceptions. Creating new opportunities for police-citizen 

engagement can also shift police perceptions of citizens—not as threats but as partners. Overcoming 

poor perceptions is key to building community-security partnerships and using them to shape reform 

initiatives to enhance both effectiveness and responsiveness to citizen security needs. 

Prioritizing Police Reform

Reforming police institutions remains a top priority across the region. An official from Benin emphasized 

that citizens are unlikely to partner with the police if police practices do not improve. “People will provide 

us information,” he explained, “but they won’t continue to do so if the security services don’t listen and 

don’t care.” 7 A senior gendarmerie commander from the Sahel noted that “we need to improve how our 

officers are trained so that they know how to engage with citizens.” 8 Another agreed. “We cannot keep 

promoting officers who behave badly.” 9 Initiatives to improve citizen-police interactions, not just at high 

profile events but also in day-to-day interactions, are one way to further the regional reform agenda. In 

addition to improving the lingering trust deficit, such changes can also make the police more effective. 

The idea that better engagement with citizens can make police more effective is not widely recognized by security officials across the region. However, the benefits of enhanced engagement became 

apparent as government and civil society actors, working in concert, weighed how best to address the 

challenge. They identified a set of ideal attributes to guide recruitment, training, and promotion of the 

region’s security officers. In addition to technical and physical skills, it included new skills like communication and listening, as well as fundamental values such as patriotism, loyalty, integrity, and faithfulness. 

“We cannot hope to succeed in our reform efforts,” a senior security official from Benin explained, “if 

we don’t bring in the right people. New procedures and new rules are not enough. It has to be about 

people.” 10 A security official from Mauritania suggested that knowledge about human rights was a basic 

necessity from which the other skills and attitudes would derive.11 A participant from Niger concluded 

that these skills, attributes, and knowledge should be considered “professional obligations.” 12

The Benefits of Inclusive Regional Reform 

Closer coordination among border security forces in the Maghreb and Sahel is increasingly being 

recognized as critical to managing the region’s security challenges.13 More recently, there has been 

a growing recognition that border management can be more effective if forces work with border 

communities and adopt community sensitive approaches. What is less widely recognized is that the 

twin agendas of reform and security could also benefit from a regional approach. This is especially 

critical amidst an increasingly complex security environment in which the proliferation of cross-regional threats could eradicate the reform progress made throughout much of the Maghreb and Sahel. By 

working with regional counterparts, government officials, operational commanders, security forces, 

and civil society organizations all stand to gain from sharing best practices and lessons learned from 

reform initiatives elsewhere in the region. 

Additionally, change agents in critical institutions may have few allies to support their reform 

agendas. As insecurity spreads, these reformers may face significant pressure to curtail or pause their 

efforts. A regional approach links these change agents—both within countries and across borders—

into a network of reformers, assisting them in withstanding bureaucratic pressures to pause reform 

and helping to generate broader interest in and political support for reform.
© USIP 2015 • All rights reserved.

USIP provides the analysis, training, and 

tools that prevent and end conflicts, 

promotes stability, and professionalizes 

the field of peacebuilding.

For media inquiries, contact the office 

of Public Affairs and Communications, 

202.429.4725.

Regional Security through Inclusive Reform in the Maghreb and the Sahel

Page 4 • PB 197 • December 2015

2301 Constitution Ave.

Washington, DC 20037

202.457.1700

2301 Constitution Ave., NW

Washington, D.C. 20037

2301 Constitution Ave.

Washington, DC 20037

202.457.1700

Given the legacy of mistrust and lingering poor perceptions of security actors across the region, 

community-security partnerships can serve as valuable mechanisms to build trust. Community 

security is a people-centered approach to addressing insecurity. It works by bringing together 

“a wide range of state and civil society actors to identify root causes of insecurity collectively and 

develop coordinated responses to them.”14 The inherent inclusivity of these processes can enhance 

transparency and accountability, all of which contribute to good governance efforts. The legitimacy 

of security actors remains key to the establishment of social and political trust, both of which must 

be present to strengthen resiliency among communities and lessen grievances that could negatively 

impact justice and security provisions. Although some operational commanders were initially 

reticent about the value of such partnerships, the opportunity to engage with civil society counterparts generated a gradual shift. Over time, and with some degree of variance by country, security 

officials recognized that civil society organizations could be partners in reform. And civil society 

actors gained insight into the difficult challenges security actors face managing a more dangerous 

and complex security environment. 

Building robust community-security partnerships is proving to be critical to the transformation of 

the security sector. By creating linkages and bridging gaps, community-security partnerships are a 

valuable mechanism to balance the competing demands for security and reform and to redefine, in 

an inclusive and transparent way, the role and purpose of security and justice sector institutions in the 

aftermath of the Arab Spring. 

Notes

1. Fiona Mangan and Mark Shaw, Illicit Trafficking and Libya’s Transition: Profits and Losses, Peaceworks no. 96, U.S. Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, 2014.

2. Security sector reform (SSR) is a conceptual approach to strengthening, reforming, or (re)constructing the human and institutional capabilities and capacities of the security sector to provide 

security, maintain the state’s monopoly of force, and operate in accordance with democratic 

principles and the rule of law. See Querine Hanlon and Richard H. Shultz, Jr., Prioritizing Security 

Sector Reform: A New U.S. Approach (Washington, DC: USIP Press, March 2016).

3. Interview, security official, Tunisia, 2014.

4. Interview, security official, Tunisia, 2014.

5. Interview, senior security official, Malta, 2014.

6. Interview, senior security official, Malta, 2014.

7. Interview, security official, Morocco, 2015.

8. Interview, senior security official, Morocco, 2015.

9. Interview, security official, Malta, 2014.

10. Interview, security official, Senegal, 2015.

11. Interview, senior security official, Senegal, 2015.

12. Interview, security official, Senegal, 2015.

13. Security officials from the Sahel noted the absence of mechanisms to coordinate among the 

security services, even in critical border areas where their missions overlap. 

14. Saferworld, Community Security: A Vehicle for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (London: Saferworld, September 2014). 

About This Brief

The U.S. Institute of Peace, in partnership with the U.S. Department 

of State’s Bureau of International 

Narcotics and Law Enforcement 

Affairs, designed a regional platform 

to bring security officials and their 

civil society counterparts from North 

and West Africa together to begin 

working in concert to address the 

region’s shared challenges. This 

brief shares key insights from the 

engagement between official and 

civil society actors both within and 

across borders, makes the case 

for working regionally to address 

the twin challenges of security 

and reform, and highlights how 

community-security partnerships 

offer one approach to advancing the 

region’s security and reform agenda. 

Dr. Querine Hanlon is the founding 

president and executive director 

of Strategic Capacity Group. Previously, she served as special adviser 

for USIP. Joyce Kasee is a senior 

program officer for the Center for 

the Middle East and Africa.