'Perfect couple or awkward bedfellows?' : linking Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) and Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the EU post-conflict reconstruction efforts: the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is increasingly aspiring not to be only a normative value-driven power but also a vital player in post-conflict reconstructions beyond its borders. Particularly within a context of Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants, the EU has adapted ambitious policies and developed into a significant player in this respective field. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is often considered as the largest laboratory for the EU Crisis Management, frames our research playground and serves as a ‘lacmus paper’ of the EU’s SSR and DDR policy implementation. The following thesis adopts a three-steps analytical approach: (1) potential synergies and overlapping aims of SSR and DDR are analysed from a theoretical perspective; (2) policy analysis of the EU’s policy documents; and (3) subsequent policy utilisation on the Congolese soil. This thesis reveals that the EU’s SSR and DDR endeavours in building peace and security in the DRC are severely hindered and compromised by its organisations complexity in line with the ‘pre-Lisbon’ identity and by its inherited legacy of two un-linked security-oriented and developmentoriented policies, which lead through missing guidelines and effective division of labour to fragmentation of competences and their subsequent disjuncture when utilised on the ground.