Multi-level governance and security: The security sector reform process in the central African Republic

This article puts emphasis on the international interactions between institutional actors who may be geographically/territorially situated at different levels of the policy-making process in different places around the world, thus suggesting ways to grasp multi-actor and multi-sited governance. Therefore, it advocates an approach which consists of expanding the agenda of the traditional multi-level governance approach.

The issue at stake here is to capture the interactive institutional dynamic at an international level, thus developing a methodological framework that is likely to seize both the top-down and the bottom-up dynamics of decision-making processes. The first objective is to capture the sets of actors and procedures which drive the process, and to map out the various levels of government at which decisions are made, either the more top-down, or the more bottom-up oriented ones, answering two sets of questions: How is security governance organised? Who decides, and on which matters? Secondly – and more fundamentally – is to capture the intermingling of domestic and international decision-making processes which increasingly overlap and interfere with each other in Southern countries.

Paper prepared for the Workshop on "Transforming Political Structures: Security, Institutions, and Regional Integration Mechanisms " organised by the European Report on Development in Florence, Italy. 16-17 April, 2009.

European Report on Development 2009

The European Report on Development (ERD) is a multiannual process, which is framed within the initiative “Mobilizing European Research for Development Policies“. The objective of this initiative is to enhance a European perspective on development issues in the international arena, on the basis of knowledge excellence, innovation and building of common ground between the European research community and policy-makers (Member States and Commission). Moreover, this initiative will improve the visibility of the EU at a global level, help shape the international agenda and feed the EU
internal debate on development.