Keynote by Mayke Kaag at UN about trust and security sector reform
On 2 June, Prof. Mayke Kaag gave a keynote speech at the UN Headquarters in New York. The meeting was organised by the UN’s Security Sector Reform & Governance Unit.
Trust and trust-making
Prof. Kaag spoke about ‘Trust and trust-making in African politics and governance – Reflections on their importance for Security Sector Reform’. The other keynote speaker was renowned economist and Oxford Professor Sir Paul Collier, author of The Bottom Billion and Left Behind: A New Economics of Neglected Places.
Security, politics and development
Prof. Kaag: 'This was a great opportunity to interact directly with diplomats and policy officers who advise governments in Africa and elsewhere on security sector reform and related issues. While more intangible aspects such as issues of trust and trust-building are not often an explicit focus in their daily work, they showed themselves very interested. It was also very stimulating to see how Paul Collier’s economist’s approach and my anthropological perspective on questions of security, politics, and development (assistance) in fact aligned and supplemented each other very well.'
Watch the keynotes
The session including both keynotes and the following conversation with the audience can be watched online (Kaag's intervention starts around 1:24).
Also check out the latest volume on Trust and Trust-Making in Africa’s Global Connections co-edited by Mayke Kaag and published by Brill.