Monograph 128: Civil-Security Relations in Tanzania: Investigations the Relationship Between the State, Security Services and Civil So

In any democratic society, healthy relations ideally operate in a triangular relationship comprising security services, civil authority and civil society, which contributes to the enhancement of peace and security. This model ensures greater transparency and accountability, as well as more effective civil control. Furthermore, under such democratic relations, conduct is more aligned with the loftier goals of national interests and objectives. In the management of healthy civil-security relations, one of the fundamental requirements is that of parliamentary monitoring of the security services. This means that Parliament, parliamentary defence and security committees have to play an active and dynamic role in developing and approving security policy and legislation. These bodies also have to approve the strategic plans, programmes and budgets of the security service. This includes monitoring adherence to policy, the execution of plans and programmes and expenditure control. But healthy civil-security relations go further than mere monitoring and control. They demand a partnership between the security services, civil authority and civil society, based on shared responsibility, mutual respect and knowledge. While the security services should accept and respect civil authority, civil authorities should ensure in return that they are knowledgeable on security matters, that they listen to the advice and recommendations of the services and that they accept responsibility for their decisions and actions. Further, if civil society wishes to participate in the security debate, it should do so in a responsible, knowledgeable manner.

The security sector consists essentially of the intelligence community, the police, the military, and the judicial and prison services. This sector can make a positive contribution to development in Africa by providing a secure environment in which institutions conform to democratic guidelines and in which they remain under democratic control, while adhering to the principles of ‘security in a democracy’. The alternative has been the unfortunate history of coups and counter-coups in post-colonial Africa, in which the security sector has been found to play a prominent but negative role. The fact that, between 1961 and 2004, there were 80 successful coups as opposed to 181 that failed suggests that the military, in particular, remains a threat to democracy in much of Africa. Command and control of this element of the security sector is often not transparent, but is, instead, unaccountable and given to consuming a large component of the state budget, while contributing little to individual security other than serving as an elite protection force. Security services not under democratic control tend to be generally highly inefficient, exclusive organisations supporting their own personal ambitions.

Beyond the national and domestic arena, both democratic control of the security forces and healthy civil-security relations contribute to regional confidence-building through transparency, and enhance governmental ability to prioritise when considering developmental and security needs. The process also brings greater efficiency to security management by ensuring that security activities are aligned with policy. This also makes it possible to see that security expenditure is maintained at the appropriate level, resulting in effective security and the release of scarce resources for developmental and social requirements.

With these considerations in mind, the Defence Sector Programme at the Institute for Security Studies, in cooperation with the Bunge Foundation for Democracy in Tanzania and the Department of History at the University of Dar es Salaam, organized, in 2005, a three-day workshop from May 19 – 21. This was at the joint invitation of the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Security of the Tanzanian Parliament to share experiences, exchange views, and deliberate on matters pertaining to civil-security relationships in Tanzania.

This monograph contains five of the papers delivered at a workshop during 2005, that investigated the relationship between the state, security services and civil society in Tanzania, as well as some comments and conclusions emanating from it.