Policy and Research Papers
Local Ownership and Security Sector Reform
Over the past two decades, in response to the underwhelming results of international development efforts across the Third World, arguments concerning the importance of local ownership have been gaining currency within the international development community. At its core, the discourse around ownership revolves around fundamental questions of agency: who decides, who controls, who implements, and who evaluates. The growing emphasis on local ownership, then, emerged as a critique of mainstream development practice and the broader cult of Western expertise which underpins it. As Joseph Stiglitz argued a decade ago, a vision of development in which all the answers and all the agency are seen to lie in the hands of foreigners is inherently problematic and ultimately self-defeating: ‘We have seen again and again that [local] ownership is essential for successful transformation: policies that are imposed from outside may be grudgingly accepted on a superficial basis, but will rarely be implemented as intended’. Since then, the principle of local ownership has been viewed increasingly as a precondition for effective development assistance, even if
the translation of the principle into actual practice remains an ongoing challenge.
Indonesia’s progress on governance: State cohesion and strategic institutional reform
This papers presents the widespread reform of state institutions Indonesia has been going through since 1998. It also addresses what drove the process, some challenges and lessons learnt.
L’industrie de défense indonésienne : la clef de la puissance ?
Depuis 2010, le gouvernement indonésien s’est engagé dans une ambitieuse stratégie de « revitalisation » et de développement de son industrie de défense. Entre optimisme économique, opportunités et contraintes politiques, enjeux stratégiques et défis opérationnels, la montée en gamme de l’industrie de défense indonésienne pose de nombreuses questions. Au travers du développement de l’industrie de l’armement, c’est toute la complexité de l’ "émergence" d’un pays et des stratégies d’influence de ses leaders qui s’impose. Cette Note fournit une introduction à une problématique multiple, dont les moteurs et lignes de fuite s’avèreront déterminants pour non seulement le comportement de l’Indonésie dans le commerce mondial des armements, mais aussi la stabilité en Asie-Pacifique.
Books
The Role of Parliament in Police Governance
As the primary agency for law enforcement, the police operates at close proximity to the public and exerts significant influence over the security of individuals and communities through its behaviours and performance. Therefore, ensuring accountability of both the individuals and institutions of the police is a fundamental condition for good governance of the security sector in democratic societies. The parliament, as the highest representative body in a democratic system, plays a significant role in maintaining police accountability.
The objective of the edited volume on “The Role of Parliament in Police Governance: Lessons Learned from Asia and Europe” is to put forward good practices and recommendations for improving police accountability, with an emphasis on the strengthening of the role of parliament in police governance. The comparative analysis includes insights and lessons learned from eight country case studies including Belgium, Germany, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Philippines, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The findings of the cases studies can be taken into account when analysing and considering options for improving the accountability of the police to parliament as well as strengthening independent oversight bodies and parliament-police liaison mechanisms. However, it must be emphasised that these good practices always need to be adapted to the exigencies of the local context.