This path-breaking volume provides the first in-depth examination of the role security sector reforms in democratizing constitutional transitions, drawing on a rich set of case studies spanning Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. The volume offers critical lessons for those interested in post-authoritarian democratic transitions, challenging the conventional wisdom that security services must always be kept out of transitional processes and identifying key roles they might play to ensure stability and enable effective civilian oversight. Evidence drawn from cross-regional comparison allows the editors to develop empirically-grounded theoretical insights in a concluding chapter that makes an incisive and original contribution to the growing literature on democratic transitions.

Asli Bâli, Professor of Law, UCLA

This volume deals with one of the most significant but neglected aspects of constitutional transition. Security sector reform is a sine qua non of effective transition but, almost by definition, hard to achieve. This volume makes a critical initial foray into the field, with cases from nine states, spanning different regions, in which the challenge manifested itself in a wide variety of contexts. Highly recommended.

Cheryl Saunders AO, Laureate Professor Emeritus, University of Melbourne

No account of the rocky transition to democracy can fail to address the role and responsibility of the national security services in the prior regime. Until now, most academic attention turned to the demands of human rights and transitional justice. This volume fills a critical void by examining how the military and police infrastructures were handled by the nascent democracies. From the defeated military of Argentina, to the commanding regimes of Chile and Spain, and through traditional autocratic countries, each democracy had to walk a fine line between confrontation and capitulation. Domesticating the repressive fist of autocracy proves a complex and compelling subject of study. An important addition to the literature on stabilizing new democracies.

Samuel Issacharoff, Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law, NYU School of Law