ORGANISING THE BLUES

While all governments in the region acknowledge the importance of the work of police officers, they seldom take a close look at their working conditions and the nature of police labour. While the situations in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland are different there are commonalities: police management has not changed significantly and neither has police legislation. Key concerns of the officers in the region centre on service conditions and wages. Communicating these concerns to the state is made difficult by the less than democratic approach taken by governments professing to favour democratization. A more democratic workplace for the police is of benefit to the broader community and is a crucial point to bear in mind when attempting to develop community-oriented professional policing.     

Urban Insurgency

Urban insurgency has generally been presented by analysts and security force personnel as a distinct variant. In contrast, insurgents themselves have often recognized the particular requirements of two dissimilar but related approaches of operation, the urban and rural. Hence they have sought to field approaches and doctrine that exploited the specifics of each. In some cases, simply debating such has led to internal fractures that could not be overcome. More often there has been a deadly rural-urban synthesis that has increasingly challenged security forces.     

Colombian Military Support for ‘Democratic Security’

Building upon a far-reaching reform movement carried out during the administration of Andres Pastrana (1998–2002), the Colombian military emerged in the Alvaro Uribe first term (2002–06) as a powerful, flexible organization capable of implementing a national strategy for successful counterinsurgency. Sweeping organizational change was accompanied by advances in operational art and tactics, as well as the promotion of new leadership tested in combat. A growing maturity in civil–military relations enabled national advances in democratic politics, economic progress and state integration, the latter to a degree unprecedented in Colombian history.