Post-Conflict Security Sector and Public Finance Management : Lessons from Afghanistan
In recent years, international organizations have concluded that standard principles of Public Finance Management (PFM) are equally applicable to all areas of the national budget, including the security sector. In many cases long-term external ass...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/07/7235810/post-conflict-security-sector-public-finance-management-lessons-afghanistan http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11182 |
| Summary: | In recent years, international
organizations have concluded that standard principles of
Public Finance Management (PFM) are equally applicable to
all areas of the national budget, including the security
sector. In many cases long-term external assistance may be
required for the security sector, generating severe
trade-offs with other priority sectors which also require
long-term external support. Overcoming the legacy of a
fiscally unsustainable and poorly managed security sector
calls for full application of PFM principles to support the
establishment of checks and balances required to establish a
wholly accountable security sector. The recent World Bank
PFM review of Afghanistan, perhaps the first example of such
a review, provides a number of lessons, summarized in this
note. Some of these include: security in post-conflict
situations is a key condition for a return to political
normalcy and conversely, development is also needed for
security; PFM practices can take into consideration the most
complex and confidential issues without undermining the
application of the fundamental principles of accountability
to elected civil authorities; and reviewing security reform
through a PFM lens reduces risks and costs to both the
country concerned and donors. |
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