A regional perspective is indispensable for understanding political, social and security dynamics in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda and Burundi. While each country has undertaken a unique socio-political and economic trajectory, in many ways, the four countries that are the focus of RVI’s Great Lakes Course continue to be interconnected. MORE >

Security sector reform has been a central component of post-conflict reconstruction and development programmes, and the restoration of state authority since the 1990s. However, these reforms have rarely been successful in the long run. Studies of reform efforts offer a range of explanations for these disappointing results, including: reform efforts taking a top-down approach or being too donor-driven; approaches offering technical solutions to fundamentally political problems; programmes lacking legitimacy at the local level or missing buy-in at the national level; and a lack of state capacity for large-scale reform. In the DRC, police reform has been a staple of statebuilding and governance strengthening efforts. Despite some reform... MORE >