LECTURE- Security Sector Reform in Post-Socialist Transition States, OSCE-Tajikistan, Jan. 15

Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian Studies

LECTURE- Security Sector Reform in Post-Socialist States, OSCE-Tajikistan, 1/15

Posted by: Payam Foroughi <payamforoughi@aol.com>

As part of its Open Lecture Series, the OSCE Office in Tajikistan
invites you to a presentation on:

"Security Sector Reform in Post-Socialist Transition States"
By Dr. Andreas Heinemann-Grüder, University of Bonn, Germany
Thursday 15 January 2009, 4:15 PM
OSCE Office in Tajikistan
18a Ahmadi Donish Ave., Dushanbe

RSVP: sshukurzoda@osce.org

[The OSCE has moved: The new Office is very close to the Dushanbe
Airport. On the main road towards the Airport when you pass the
bridge, the OSCE is located across the street from the Technosila
electronic store, about 50 meters into a small alley].

Abstract: Security Sector Reform (SSR) is an endeavor to make security
forces more transparent, accountable, responsible, predictable,
proactively responsive, and participatory. The SSR agenda in Central
Asia shows certain commonalities with Central Eastern Europe, but
there are peculiarities as well. This lecture tackles some the
following questions: How should democratic control come about given
the non-democratic nature of many post-Soviet regimes? How should SSR
be advanced when the governmental system is characterized by an
unconstrained concentration of powers in the presidency, weak checks
and balances, patronage, and corruption? How should control come about
if nobody controls the alleged controllers? It is argued that SSR is
essential for regaining credibility of government, e.g., for public
trust. SSR, many argue, is thus key for stability at large. Some
officers in the security forces may push for reforms due to their
sense of professionalism, but the main impetus for SSR should arguably
start with parties and deputies.

Bio: Dr. Andreas Heinemann-Grüder is a professor of Comparative and
East European Politics at the University of Bonn in Germany. He has
also taught at several other institutions in both Germany and the
United States, including the University of Cologne and University of
Pennsylvania. As an undergraduate, he studied History and Political
Science at the Free University of Berlin. He then completed a
post-graduate degree in USSR at the Moscow State University and the
Institute for Oriental Studies at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow;
and in 1989, he completed a dissertation at the Free University on
"Soviet Policy Towards the Arab-Israeli Conflict". A decade later, he
completed his doctoral thesis titled "The Heterogeneous State:
Federalism and Regional Diversity in Russia." Aside from a plethora of
academic articles, Dr. Heinemann-Grüder is co-editor of the journal
"Perspectives on European Politics and Society". He is also the author
and editor of six books, including: "In NATO's Name: Security Policy
and Military Reform in Eastern Europe" (Verlag, 2003) and "Federalism
Doomed? European Federalism between Integration and Separation"
(Berghahn Books, 2002). He has provided policy advice to a number of
governmental and international organizations including the German
Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economic Development, and Defense;
several German Parliamentary Committees; NATO; the EU Stability Pact;
and the Government of Colombia. Dr. Heinemann-Grüder has lectured and
conducted research abroad in a wide spectrum of states including
nearly half of the post-Socialist world.

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