A Practitioner's Guide to Defense Sector Reform

A Practitioner's Guide to Defense Sector Reform is a practitioner-oriented conceptual road map for program managers and implementers who have the difficult job of achieving reform in a wide range of defense sectors around the globe. The environment in which this work is being done has changed dramatically, needs are many and urgent, and resources are limited. Practitioners need guidance that fits the current context and helps them to determine what to do, and more specifically, where to start.

The guide proposes ten goals for defense sector reform, each of which identifies a place to start and details how to implement programming across a range of country contexts. The goals include: (1) democratic control, (2) civilian oversight, (3) legislative and judicial oversight, (4) coordination and management, (5) functioning logistics, (6) defense planning, (7) financial management, (8) the right people, (9) strategy generation, and (10) military effectiveness. Examples from Colombia, Georgia, Iraq, Libya, Mali, and Tunisia help practitioners translate this guidance into effective programming.

The manual closes with a discussion about starting and sequencing programming if there are many urgent and important needs and avoiding some programming pitfalls. Key issues include how to define success, generate political will, understand formal and informal systems, and balance the trade-offs between achieving fast results and sustainable change.