Research Papers

Since Security Sector Reform (SSR) is dramatically emerged as a key point of the international activity since the end of 1990, when EU has included SSR among the main instruments of its external action. Paper aims at analyzing in the first part the concept of SSR as it emerged at international and European level. In the second part SSR is approached as one of the main instrument of the externalization of the Internal Security Strategy. The main assumption is that, in the framework of the European integration process, the inclusion of the SSR among the EU’s external action task comes out from either external and domestic conditions. EU SSR activity seems to be based on a twofold aim: the first aim is the reconstruction of the institutional framework of the SS in the view to assure andor increase the effectiveness of the management of domestic security in the view to assure a secure environment to the people. The second aim is to promote the development of SSR policies compatible with human rights, humanitarian law, good governance, transparency and respect for the rule of law in the view to assure that the reconstruction of institutional framework of third countries will be based on the respect of citizens. In this framework, the ESPD civilian operations are at the very foundation of the SSR activity of the EU and SSR tasks have increased in number, as demonstrated in the empirical analysis in which the relevance and presence of the SSR in the EU missions is counted.