The Impact of Security Force Assistance on State Fragility (SFAssist)

​Security Force Assistance (SFA) – the training and equipping of a foreign security force – represent a common form of intervention into fragile states.

The Sahel region is increasingly affected by transnational security threats which spill across national borders, such as insurgency, terror attacks, uncontrolled migration and illicit trafficking in commodities. A key reason for the persistence of those threats is the poor performance of the region’s security forces.

There is an open call for papers to the SFAssist panel at the European Conference of African Studies, 11-14 June 2019.

The panel is titled: International security assistance in Africa: views beyond the policy and is sponsored by the thematic group [CRG Violent Conflict]. 

​December 5-7, PRIO hosted a workshop titled ‘Security Force Assistance in Fragile States’. Involving 30 leading academics and practitioners from around the world, the workshop provided fruitful and stimulating discussions and will stimulate future research agendas.

As part of the workshop, PRIO arranged an open seminar at Litteraturhuset on Wednesday 5 December titled ‘Military Capacity Building as a “One Size Fits All” Solution to Norway and NATO’s Security Challenges in Fragile States’. The seminar was chaired by PRIO senior researcher Øystein H. Rolandsen, and the panel consisted of: Michael Miklaucic, of the US National Defense University and editor of PRISM journal; Ruth Hanau Santini professor at the Università Orientale (Naples); Emily Knowles, director of the Remote Warfare Programme at the Oxford Research Group; and PRIO research professor Kristian Berg Harpviken. Henrik Urdal opened the seminar and welcomed the audience and participants.

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Photo: Indigo Trigg-Hauger / PRIO