Whose security? Whose justice? Customary authorities in security and justice interventions in the Horn of Africa

ABSTRACT

An evolving body of literature calls for politically realistic security and justice interventions that reflect the plurality of norms, power and legitimacy in the security and justice arena. In this arena, customary authorities may provide more security and justice than the state, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. They matter for peace, security, and development, but engaging them requires donors to navigate hidden power structures and illiberal traditions and ideas. In response to this complexity, this article proposes an approach for working with customary authorities – supporting fluid networks of customary, community and state agents and the political bargaining between them. Looking at a specifically conflict-affected area of the Horn, this paper provides an important survey of what we know, and what we don’t know and embraces customary authorities’ agency in change.

KEYWORDS:

• Legal pluralism
• customary justice
• security and justice
• Horn of Africa
• hybrid justice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In this article, customary authorities are one group of non-state actors and refer to elders, chiefs and tribal or clan leaders. They exclude religious leaders and members of clan militia or other non-state armed groups. The literature uses several terms interchangeably including community, community leadership, elders, traditional and customary providers. This exacerbates ambiguity on who really owns change processes, and how local ownership in security and justice reform can be enacted in practice.

2. This article takes an expansive definition of security and justice to mean ‘values and goals (e.g. freedom, fairness, personal safety) as well as the various institutions established to deliver them (e.g. defence forces, police, courts)’ (DFID, 2007, 10). This includes both formal (e.g. the police) and informal village courts, community security groups) institutions.

3. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? Verweijenaand and Van Bockhaven, Revisiting colonial legacies.

4. Enns et al., Security for whom? Aning and Axelrod, Hybrid Security Provision.

5. Hudson et al., Inside the Black Box of Political Will; Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear?; Andersen, Security Sector Reform; Leftwich, Politics in command; Green, How Change Happens; Acemoglu and Robinson, Why Nations Fail.

6. Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions.

7. Laws et al., LearnAdapt.

8. Midgley et al., Beyond Box-Ticking.

9. For example, Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear?

10. Denney and Valters, Evidence Synthesis.

11. This study defines the Horn of Africa as Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland, Eritrea and Djibouti.

12. Bereketeab, State Legitimacy; Hills, Security Sector or Security Arena?

13. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? Baker, Where Formal and Informal Justice Meet; Denney and Kassaye, Securing Communities for Development.

14. Abdi Omer and Jibril, Hybrid Security Governance; Wiuff Moe and Vargas Simojoki, Custom, Contestation and Co-operation; Dijkema et al., Rethinking the Foundations of the State; EAJ, Access to Justice Assessment Tool.

15. In this article, community members refer to everyday citizens and civil society organisations.

16. Mallett et al., The Benefits and Challenges of Using Systematic Reviews.

17. Luckham and Kirk, Understanding Security, 10; Lund, Twilight Institutions, 685; Mac Ginty, Indigenous Peace-Making, 140.

18. Denney, Liberal Chiefs or Illiberal Development? Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear?

19. Aning and Axelrod, Hybrid Security Provision.

20. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? Jackson, Decentralised authorities; Andersen, The Liberal Dilemmas of a People-Centred Approach.

21. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? Sedra, Adapting Security Sector Reform.

22. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? Sedra, Adapting Security Sector Reform; Homel and Masson, Partnerships for Human Security; Enfield, Lessons of Working with Informal Security Actors; Harborne, Security and Justice Overview.

23. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? Andersen, Security Sector Reform; Bierschenk, Who are the Police in Africa? Richmond, Becoming Liberal.

24. Bell, Jackson and Bakrania, Security and Justice Evidence Mapping.

25. Department For International Development, Safety, Security and Accessible Justice; Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, The OECD DAC Handbook.

26. Grindle, Good Enough Governance; Ramalingam et al., From Best Practice to Best Fit.

27. Levy, Working with the Grain.

28. Bell, Jackson and Bakrania, Security and Justice Evidence Mapping, 28; Sedra, Adapting Security Sector Reform.

29. Gordon, Security Sector Reform; Oosterveld and Galand, Justice Reform.

30. Richmond, Becoming Liberal; Andersen, The Liberal Dilemmas of a People-Centred Approach; Schroeder and Chappuis, New Perspectives on Security Sector Reform.

31. Albrecht and Kyed, Introduction.

32. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear?

33. Enfield, Lessons of Working with Informal Security Actors.

34. The research questions took a broad definition of reforms across S&J institutions and values, rather than studying one intervention type like community policing. Reforms included policies, programmes and projects led by local governments, communities, international organisations or donors. This was appropriate because the study interrogated the bargaining process between actors on reforms, not the type of interventions that emerge.

35. Under-served groups mean those who struggle to access S&J services. They include women, youth, clan minorities, the disabled and IDPs – although members of these groups can also perpetuate discrimination (Harper, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Analysis, 3).

36. Ibid.

37. Bell, Jackson and Bakrania, Security and Justice Evidence Mapping.

38. Bakrania, Methodological Briefs on Evidence Synthesis, 14.

39. World Bank, World Development Report 2017.

40. Stewart, Changing the World One Systematic Review at a Time, 587; Popay et al., Guidance on the Conduct of Narrative Synthesis, 22.

41. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? Belay, Community Policing or Policing the Community? Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions; Wiuff Moe and Vargas Simojoki, Custom, Contestation and Co-operation; Wiuff Moe and Vargas, Supporting Local Peace Building; Gundel, Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in Somalia; Denney and Kassaye, Securing Communities for Development; Mahmud, Writer Calls for National Dialogue; AllAfrica.com, Somali Leaders Pledge Judicial Reform.

42. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? Denney and Kassaye, Securing Communities for Development.

43. Denney and Kassaye, Securing Communities for Development.

44. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear?

45. Ibid.

46. Beyene, The Security Sector Reform Paradox in Somalia; International Security Sector Advisory Team, Background Note; Vargas Simojoki, Enhancing Legal Empowerment; Burke, Somalia and Legal Pluralism; Leite, Reinvigoration of Somali Traditional Justice.

47. Schroeder and Chappuis, New Perspectives on Security Sector Reform; Beyene, The Security Sector Reform Paradox in Somalia.

48. Vargas Simojoki, Enhancing Legal Empowerment; Harper, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Analysis.

49. De Waal, Somalia’s Disassembled State.

50. Wiuff Moe and Vargas Simojoki, Custom, Contestation and Co-operation; Gundel, Pathways and Institutions; Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions.

51. Enfield, Lessons of Working with Informal Security Actors.

52. Gundel, Pathways and Institutions.

53. Bell, Jackson and Bakrania, Security and Justice Evidence Mapping; McCullough and Saed, Gatekeepers, Elders and Accountability.

54. Andersen, The Liberal Dilemmas of a People-Centred Approach; Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? EAJ, Access to Justice Assessment Tool.

55. The Councils of Elders (often called the ‘Guurti’) are traditional forums for elders to mediate and resolve disputes. The Danish Demining Group supports reforms to these councils across Somaliland and Somalia. These reforms bring a wider set of community actors into the council, including women, youth and ethnic minorities, broadening participation in decision making and dispute resolution.

56. The Danish Demining Group supports the Community Police Dialogue Cooperation (CPDC) initiative in several Somalian districts. The CPDC takes some disputes off the Somali police and holds them accountable.

57. PCEF, Perceptions Assessment.

58. UNDP, Programme Quarterly Progress Report.

59. Denney and Kassaye, Securing Communities for Development; Baker, Where Formal and Informal Justice Meet; Belay, Community Policing or Policing the Community?

60. Denney and Kassaye, Securing Communities for Development; Baker, Where Formal and Informal Justice Meet.

61. Belay, Community Policing or Policing the Community? Denney and Kassaye, Securing Communities for Development.

62. Popay et al., Guidance on the Conduct of Narrative Synthesis.

63. Abdi Omer and Jibril, Hybrid Security Governance.

64. Ibid.

65. Denney and Kassaye, Securing Communities for Development.

66. Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions; Tait et al., Community-Police Dialogue; Saferworld, Sustainable Community Approaches; Wiuff Moe and Vargas Simojoki, Custom, Contestation and Co-operation; Gundel, Pathways and Institutions.

67. Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions.

68. UNDP, Programme Quarterly Progress Report.

69. Baker, Where Formal and Informal Justice Meet.

70. Harper, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Analysis.

71. Gundel, Pathways and Institutions; Leite, Reinvigoration of Somali Traditional Justice.

72. Saferworld, Sustainable Community Approaches.

73. Ibid.

74. World Bank, World Development Report 2017.

75. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear? Belay, Community Policing or Policing the Community?

76. Baker, Where Formal and Informal Justice Meet.

77. Wiuff Moe and Vargas Simojoki, Custom, Contestation and Co-operation.

78. Ibid.

79. Saferworld, Sustainable Community Approaches.

80. World Bank, World Development Report 2017.

81. Ibid; Denney and Valters, Evidence Synthesis.

82. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear?

83. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear?

84. Wiuff Moe and Vargas, Supporting Local Peace Building; Saferworld, Sustainable Community Approaches; Soyden, District Peace.

85. Wiuff Moe and Vargas Supporting Local Peace Building.

86. Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions.

87. World Bank, World Development Report 2017.

88. Andersen, Security Sector Reform.

89. Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions; Wiuff Moe and Vargas Simojoki, Custom, Contestation and Co-operation.

90. Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions.

91. Ibid.

92. Halloran, Thinking and Working Politically.

93. Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions; Wiuff Moe and Vargas Simojoki, Custom, Contestation and Co-operation; Wiuff Moe and Vargas, Supporting Local Peace Building 2012; Soyden, District Peace.

94. Leite, Reinvigoration of Somali Traditional Justice.

95. Ibid.

96. Baker, Where Formal and Informal Justice Meet.

97. Gundel, Pathways and Institutions.

98. Denney and Kassaye, Securing Communities for Development.

99. Jackson, Security Sector Reform.

100. Levy, Working with the Grain.

101. World Bank, World Development Report 2017.

102. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear?

103. Gordon, Security Sector Reform.

104. Bell, Jackson and Bakrania, Security and Justice Evidence Mapping; Andersen, The Liberal Dilemmas.

105. Enfield, Lessons of Working with Informal Security Actors.

106. Grindle, Good Enough Governance.

107. Leftwich, Thinking and Working Politically.

108. Andrews et al., Escaping Capability Traps.

109. Jackson and Bakrania Is the Future of SSR non-linear? 2018; Albrecht and Jackson, Security Sector Transformation.

110. Booth and Unsworth, Politically Smart.

111. Dasandi et al., Thinking and Working Politically.

112. Jackson and Bakrania, Is the Future of SSR non-linear?

113. Ibid.

114. Denney and Valters’ Evidence Synthesis.

115. Mydlak, Engagement of Somali Customary Institutions.

116. Laws et al., LearnAdapt.

117. Mariani, China’s Engagement.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Jackson

Paul Jackson is Professor of African Politics at the University of Birmingham. He is currewntly Director of Research for the Social Sciences and has previously been Head of the School of Government and the International Development Department.

Veronica Stratford-Tuke

Veronica Stratford-Tuke works for the UK Government and is currently Head of the International Centre of Illicit Finance in the UK Foreign, Commonwelath and Development Office