Abstract:
States exist to perform the cardinal function of providing security to their citizens. Although at face value security is understood in terms of the military and what it does to protect citizens from physical harm, there is a thinking that the concept transcends the military and that it touches anything that may harm humanity, physically or otherwise. Various perspectives, the classical and contemporary ones, and their implication for security sector management, are discussed in this book. In Chapter One, the author discusses the perspectives about security. He shows the paradigm shift from the traditional understanding of security, which is narrowed to mean military might, which is used for the protection of those in power—to a more expanded approach that goes beyond the military, and encompasses all spheres that affect humanity. In short, the author shows the shift from state security to human security.
In Chapter Two, the author grounds the shift in the perspective in the theories that are relevant to security studies, which derive from the theories that underpin international relations, including realism, liberalism internationalism, Marxism, among others, as well as others such as feminism, social constructivism, and the Copenhagen school.
In Chapter Three, the author delves into explaining the expansive nature of the idea of security. He discusses the questions that must be asked in the security discourse, and for which answers must be provided, if security is to be comprehensively and meaningfully grasped. The questions include: security for whom (individual, state, international community?) How much security (absolute security cannot be achieved; thus, how much is enough?)
From what threats (military, economic, earthquakes, tsunamis, terrorist groups, environmental degradation and its effects?) all these are threats to security and should be included in the discourse. By what means (use of force or are there other means of attaining security?) the author argues that concentrating on the use or threat of military force as the only means of attaining security is misleading and may result in the insecurity it seeks to cure. At what cost? (is security invaluable to the extent that counting its cost is irrelevant?)
The author rejects such a notion, and among other things, argues that the rational decision making requires a cost-benefit analysis in what time frame? (Independent pursuit of security in the short term may be tenable, but strategically, relationships are important to securing long term security needs) The author argues that strategic security interests are better catered for by good relations with other actors.
Chapter Four is dedicated to the discussion of the value of security. The author joins the debates regarding whether security has an absolute value that makes all the other values to depend on it, or not. The author rejects such a view before discussing other approaches that explain the value of security relative to other values, including the primacy value approach, the core value, and marginal value approaches to understanding the value of security.
The author discusses the concept of power and its relationship with security in Chapter five. He discusses the factors that make a state powerful or weak, and delves into the debate of whether power can be measured or not. The chapter also contains a discussion of the functions of a state, which includes the supply of security to the people (not a source of insecurity).
The author discusses the factors upon which foreign policy makers base to design the foreign policies of states, and how the elements of foreign policy making determines the power, and therefore the security of a state relative to others. He also discusses the social contract theories by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and their implications to the understanding of security, and its implications for people and states.
In the Chapter six, the author discusses the security sector in Uganda, giving a historical perspective, right from the time Uganda became a British protectorate, to Amin’s era, until the current security architecture. He concentrates on discussing and evaluating the security policy, constitutional, legal, and institutional security frameworks that construct the current security architecture. The author provides suggestions for the reform of Uganda’s security sector, including recommending for the removal from the partisan parliament of the meant-to-be non-partisan army.
Chapter seven deals with leadership how it either makes or breaks a security arrangement. Thus, the author takes the reader through the elements that make a person an effective leader. In Chapter Eight, the author discusses the seeming contradiction between security and the rule of law, and makes an attempt to reconcile the two. In this context, the author argues that security forces must use their power within the framework of the rule of law. Chapter Nine is dedicated to a discussion of international legal provisions and norms for the use of force, discusses when force may be authorised or justified, and the limits imposed on militaries when force authorised or justified, under the idea of the ethics of war, and within the framework of international law.
The author in Chapter Ten discusses Uganda’s security sector governance systems, in which he dissects the National Security Council security architecture, exposes the inherent weaknesses in the constitutional, legal, and institutional frameworks of the architecture, and finally proposes solutions for improving it. Chapter Eleven contains a discussion on the concept of intelligence; what it conceptually is, its historical perspective, its justification in a state, its processes, among others.