Security Sector Reform (SSR) has been established as a powerful tool in achieving sustainable peace in post-conflict countries, a belief which has strengthened since the events of September 11th 2001, and the subsequent war on terror which has seen both the UK and US heavily involved in peacebuilding operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. However there is a concern that following these experiences, SSR has become little more than a process of building the military capacity of recipient countries in order to meet the immediate security needs of donor states. If this is true, then it could be interpreted as a regression in security thinking, where policy makers are focusing once again on state-centric notions of security as opposed to a new security thinking which considers the human security of all. This Master thesis seeks to investigate the current security thinking behind the United Kingdom’s policies with regard to assisting foreign states in their attempts at Security Sector Reform. Research, in the form of a qualitative content analysis within a case study, was conducted in order to gain an understanding of the UK’s overall assistance strategy in a real world context by identifying specific actions carried out by the UK as part of their involvement in the new Libyan Governments SSR process. These findings were then compared to an internationally recognised standard built on a holistic and long-term understanding of SSR in an analytical process in order to make interpretations and draw conclusions. In conclusion, the UK’s assistance strategy can be considered holistic and long-term; centred on building strategic influence within the new Libyan Governments security apparatus in order to effectively advocate the implementation of democratic reform and a human rights based approach to future SSR. However, that the UK is actively providing arms to Libya, despite the concerns of potentially fuelling conflict, leaves one to question how far new security thinking has really permeated British policy making.

The Master's thesis deals with the issues of the arms trade between Mexico and USA, focusing on the arms trafficking. The first chapter introduces the topic in general and analyzes the current situation of the world market in small arms and light weapons. The second and third chapter describe the characteristics of arms trade and its legislative framework in both countries - USA, Mexico - define local specifics and identify main trading partners. Bilateral trade in SALW between USA and Mexico, its process and practice how the trading takes place, is described in fourth chapter. The impact of arms trade on both countries is defined in the fifth chapter together with designed proposals to help to restrict illegal arms trafficking between partners and to reduce its negative impacts.

Illicit firearms and the proliferation of them are an increasingly discussed topic worldwide. This thesis uses content analysis to analyse the 2005 EU Strategy and revised version of it, the 2018 EU Strategy, on how to combat the proliferation of illicit firearms. With a post-structuralist approach, related theoretical aspects and the use of Carol Bacchis’ six questions in the What is the Problem Represented to Be? (WPR) approach, the thesis examines problem representations in the thesis, and discusses these to identify the shift of the representation of illicit firearms in the EU Strategies. By doing this, it is filling the research gap of policies on illicit firearms that are examining problem representations. The comparison between the two Strategies shows that there is a significant shift in the problem representation, and that contextual factors and norms play an important role in why this shift has taken place. The thesis has identified the political climate at the time of the implementation of the EU Strategies as a vital factor to the differences in the Strategies.

Academics and practitioners often assume that arms and violence against civilians are positively correlated. Existing research on small arms and light weapons (SALW) and major conventional weapons (MCW) imports, however, find that arms are a weak explanatory factor for intrastate violence. When the focus is on arms imports’ impact on the level of one-sided violence (OSV) specifically, earlier studies’ findings suggest that the comparative organisational size of armed actors is an important conditioning variable that influences the direction and magnitude of the impact arms imports have on rebel and government perpetrated OSV. Using OLS regression models, this thesis finds that increasing SALW imports are linked to no increase in the level of rebel perpetrated OSV and a marginal decrease for the level of OSV perpetrated by large government forces. MCW imports have a negative correlation for large rebel groups and governments, but no impact for small rebel groups or government forces. In all specifications, the magnitude of the impact arms imports conditional on troop size have on rebel or government perpetrated OSV remains small. This suggests the need for policymakers to focus on humanitarian and economic interventions, rather than arms when pursuing protection of civilians.

No / This edited volume takes stock of the state of research and policy on the issue of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), ten years after the UN first agreed to deal with the problem. The end of the Cold War originated a series of phenomena that would subsequently come to dominate the political agenda. Perhaps most symptomatic of the ensuing environment is the marked escalation in the scale and dynamics of armed violence, driven by the proliferation of SALW. Events in Rwanda, Somalia and Bosnia seared into global consciousness the devastating effects of this phenomenon, and of the necessity to engage actively in its limitation and prevention. This edited volume explores and outlines the research and policy on the SALW issue at this critical juncture. In addition to providing a detailed telling of the genesis and evolution of SALW research and advocacy, the volume features a series of essays from leading scholars in the field on both advances in research and action on SALW. It reflects on what has been achieved in terms of cumulative advances in data, methodology and analysis, and looks at the ways in which these developments have helped to inform policy making at national, regional and international levels. Alongside situating and integrating past and present advances in advocacy and international action, Controlling Small Arms also outlines future directions for research and action.

Efforts to control small arms and light weapons (SALW) in the periods following violent conflict can have positive or negative impacts on peacebuilding efforts. Similarly, peacebuilding activities can both support or endanger efforts to place SALW under greater control. Despite the regular occurrence of SALW control and peacebuilding activities in the same time and space in post violent conflict contexts, there is insignificant analysis of how the two sets of activities interrelate, and how these interelationships can be strengthened to improve the contribution that SALW control efforts make to peacebuilding, and vice-versa. The effects of interrelationships over time (contingency); in the same geographic space (complementarity) and the effects of public perceptions and social construction are particularly important and provide a framework for establishing these interrelationships through analysing a wide universe of cases of SALW control attempted in countries emerging from violent conflict, five mini-cases studies and a major analysis of interrelationships in Kosovo.

No / Biting the Bullet prepared a series of briefing papers on key issues for international agreement which fed into the July 2001 UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects. At this conference, UN member states agreed a Programme of Action which is the primary global framework for tackling the proliferation of SALW. Biting the Bullet is currently engaged in two major areas of activity related to the implementation and further development of the Programme of Action. . Biting the Bullet, in partnership with the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), produced a report monitoring states implementation of the programme of action for the 2003 Biennial Meeting of States (BMS) 'Implementing the Programme of Action 2003, followed by 2005 and 2006.

yes / The majority of small arms and light weapons currently in circulation are in civilian possession1. An estimated fifty-nine percent of weapons around the world are in civilian hands and in some regions such as Europe this is closer to eighty per cent.2 While the majority of these arms are used for lawful purposes a significant percentage are not. The misuse of these arms by civilians can cause major damage to people¿s livelihoods, health and security as well as broader repercussion such as hampering economic, social and political development and the provision of health care. One of the more controversial outcomes of the UN Small Arms conference was the failure of states to explicitly commit to more effective regulation of civilian possession and use of small arms and light weapons (SALW). Despite clear evidence of the opportunities for diversion of SALW from civilian possession to illicit trade and the serious impact of this on human security, opposition from some states to any mention of this issue within the Programme of Action (PoA) prevented the inclusion of language concerning the regulation of privately owned SALW. Nevertheless, the Programme of Action does contain limited provisions including the criminalisation of illicit possession of SALW and a requirement that states ensure responsibility for SALW issued by them. This Policy Briefing elaborates on how these and other international commitments should be interpreted and implemented so as to enhance human security.

Efforts to control small arms and light weapons (SALW) in the periods following violent conflict can have positive or negative impacts on peacebuilding efforts. Similarly, peacebuilding activities can both support or endanger efforts to place SALW under greater control. Despite the regular occurrence of SALW control and peacebuilding activities in the same time and space in post violent conflict contexts, there is insignificant analysis of how the two sets of activities interrelate, and how these interelationships can be strengthened to improve the contribution that SALW control efforts make to peacebuilding, and vice-versa. The effects of interrelationships over time (contingency); in the same geographic space (complementarity) and the effects of public perceptions and social construction are particularly important and provide a framework for establishing these interrelationships through analysing a wide universe of cases of SALW control attempted in countries emerging from violent conflict, five mini-cases studies and a major analysis of interrelationships in Kosovo.

This paper examines the inter-relationships in post-conflict contexts between DDR programmes and processes on the one hand, and wider arms management and SALW control programmes on the other. It is a contribution to the international project "on DDR and Human Security: Post-conflict security building and the interests of the poor‟, and aims to complement the four other Thematic working papers of this Project. It argues that greater co-coordination, and often integration, between DDR and civilian arms management/reduction programmes is needed to promote human security in most countries emerging from conflict, within the framework of a wider comprehensive strategy for enhancing security from fear and violence that also includes security sector reform.