What is Security Sector Reform

One important notion regarding Lesotho's persistent political and security instability revolves around the politicisation of the military, which ultimately poses major threats to Lesotho's fragile democracy. The security sector, especially the military in Lesotho, is vulnerable to political influence to a point where they are to blame for their undue interference in the political arena. They tend to become involved directly and/indirectly in high-level political battles. Hence this reality is referred to as ‘militarisation of politics' and ‘politicisation of the military. This phenomenon of exasperating politics-military relations has led to the security sector being actively and openly involved and/or used in high-level political disputes. However, at the heart of Lesotho's culture of violence lies the historical trend of militarisation. This persistent culture of violence can be attributed to the historical relationship between politics and military, but more significantly to events following post-colonialization.