Introduction: Hybrid Security Governance in Africa

Security Sector Reform (SSR) programmes have not sufficiently acknowledged the fact that in Africa, security governance is based on a complex amalgam of statutory and non?statutory actors and institutions which do form the security sector. SSR processes are more often than not focused on structural and formal institutional arrangements of the state and are generally seen as a purely technico?institutional reform, based on techniques of organisational engineering and principles of institutional design. Consequently, security reform processes, most of the time promoted or supported by external donors, tend to be driven by an administrative view of the state which emphasises its legal structure whilst glossing over its political and social character. Today, there is a dire need to take a critical stance on the relationships between the various systems, actors and beneficiaries involved in the security sector on the African continent. This introductive article proposes to refer to the analytic model of ‘hybridity’ to grasp the current realities and the prospects of the security sector in African countries.