Think Piece No. 5: Hybridization of Security

Summary

• Governance is hybridized in many post-colonial countries. Hybrid political orders are characterized by diverse and competing authority structures, sets of rules, and logics of order. They combine elements of Western models with elements stemming from local indigenous traditions and are also affected by the forces of globalization and associated societal fragmentation.

• Hybrid political orders differ considerably from the Western model state and the way it operates, not least in the core domain of security. Internal security and order are not based on a state monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force. Under conditions of hybrid security governance, there is a huge variety of peace, security, and justice providers. They straddle the state/non-state boundary and maintain complex, fluid, and constantly changing intense interactions and relationships.

• We have to take this hybridization of security into account and have to explore ways of working with hybridity that could contribute to stable security and sustainable peace – if necessary beyond the state monopoly onthe use of force.