Dr Corinna Jentzsch from Leiden University discusses the concept of auxiliary armed forces and how it applies to both government militias and insurgent police forces, with a focus on the African context in general and the case of Mozambique's civil war in particular.
Her work looks at how the informal institutions of security governance emerge, evolve, and differ across different zones of conflict. She advances the argument that security governance is a multi-actor, multi-player endeavour that involves several groups providing order and security to the population under armed control. Furthermore, Dr Jentzsch discusses how the security governance that emerges in times of war is constantly evolving and never static. Its evolution is influenced by successes and failures on the battlefield and the innovations that come about.