4 This dichotomy between state actors and non-state actors raises important questions in international peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Though the category of non-state actors is loose, it is often juxtaposed with the category of state actors in both the broader literature on security and the specialized works on peacekeeping and peacebuilding. While the category of state actors refers to states and intergovernmental organizations, the category of non-state actors tends to be a generalization for international NGOs and civil society. 3 This patchwork of actors produces the bifurcated categories of state and non-state actors in peacekeeping and its associated peacebuilding process. Such actors include not only states and intergovernmental organizations, but also non-governmental organizations (NGOs), statesmen, and community and national leaders, who seek to alleviate humanitarian crisis, end the fighting, peacefully resolve the conflict, or address the root causes of war. Peacekeeping and its concomitant peacebuilding process involve many actors whose roles are often not well-defined. 2 While each of the categories can be lumped into what is generally referred to as state actors, non-state actors and victims, such a distinction does not provide sufficient clarity for examining the peacekeeping dimension of civil wars. By the very nature of civil wars, clear categories of involvement (government forces, armed opposition, mercenaries, foreign troops, perpetrators of war crimes, victims, multinational corporations, etc.) emerge in the course of the violence. 1 This perception of international peacekeeping as being primarily a state action stems from the fact that the legal and military actions that underpin peacekeeping operations are undertaken by states вЂ“ either unilaterally, as part of a coalition, or through intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). International peacekeeping has largely been associated with states, most notably the major world powers and regional powers. Moreover, it points to the positive role of civil non-state actors and the wide range of activities they perform, especially in peace mediation and post-war reconstruction.

It further expands the notion of non-state actors in peacekeeping and peacebuilding to encompass community-based NGOs and ad hoc community organizations.

The paper examines the role of civil non-state actors through their dialectical affinity with state actors in the peacekeeping and peacebuilding processes. In addition, it argues that civil non-state actors play a critical problem-solving role in peacekeeping and peacebuilding and complement the role of state actors. Using Sierra Leone, Liberia, and CГґte dвЂ™Ivoire as cases studies, the paper identifies three kinds of civil non-state actors in war-torn countries: international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based NGOs, and ad hoc community organizations. This paper advances the notion of civil non-state actors in peacekeeping and peacebuilding.

Red alert 3 peacekeeper