CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Tsikarishvili, Giorgi |
|---|---|
| Title | Resilience or Resistance? The Interplay of Human Rights and National Security In Ukraine's Security Sector Governance, Illustrated Through the Case of Georgia |
| Summary | ABSTRACT Following the events of 9/11, security sector governance has noted a shift in seemingly competing priorities of national security, democratization, and preventing human rights abuses via the series of checks and balances. Western democracies responded to the increased terrorism threats by arming intelligence institutions with broadened mandates or establishing new structures, undermining the existing traditions of oversight and governance. Distinct characteristics of these approaches include 1) broad mandates of intelligence services, 2) lack of clear normative definitions of their powers and competencies, 3) insufficient oversight mechanisms, and 4) duplication of police functions or arming these institutions with powers of arrest and detention. Such countermeasures have been criticized in Western democracies for Increased risks of human rights violations and political biases in intelligence institutions. However, their role in the security sector reform in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus region remains largely unexamined. On the one hand, facing an existential threat of Russian military invasion, countries such as Ukraine and Georgia are incentivized to increase the powers of intelligence institutions and the security sector in general. On the other hand, extending the mandate of the security sector could contribute to democratic backsliding since these countries have been struggling to overcome the soviet induced legacy of corruption, political policing, and human rights abuses. Additionally, a military invasion of Russia without a clear end to the conflict in sight might blur the legal boundaries between war and peace. The absence of carefully defined competencies might lead these institutions towards unchecked utilization of powers only resorted to wartime usage for a limited timeframe. This creates a legislative vacuum, with potential risks and challenges that are also insufficiently assessed. This thesis argues against arming the intelligence institutions of the security sector with broad and overlapping powers of investigation, arrest, and detention without sufficient oversight mechanisms in Ukraine. Instead, it proposes a legal framework built on human rights protection and democratic control over security services as key factors in establishing modern, post-conflict security, free from authoritarian influences, and the risk of state capture. The argument is based on a legal framework analysis of Ukraine’s security sector, descriptive statistical analysis of its institutional competencies, a case study on Georgia, and other relevant practices. Keywords: Security Sector Reform, National Security, Good Governance; Rule of Law, Human Rights, Ukraine, Georgia, Case Study |
| Supervisor | András Jakab |
| Department | Legal Studies LLM |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/tsikarishvili_giorgi.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University