CIVIL SOCIETY IN PEACEBUILDING - A Case Study Analysis of ...

AbstractThe importance of civil society for advancing peacebuilding efforts has increased and brought to a newlight after the Cold war. With the dissipations of conflict in the 1990s and the overall increasingcomplexity of peacebuilding efforts challenging the international community, the peacebuildingdiscourse started focusing on the potential role of civil society. This essay focuses on the role of civilsociety in peacebuilding in Sudan. Since the country’s declaration of independence in 1956, the Sudanas faced several internal conflicts and two civil wars. The main aim was to study civil society’s role inpeacebuilding processes and whether a “bottom-up” approach was included. There has been littlesystematic analysis of the specific role of civic engagement and civil society in the context of armedconflicts in Sudan. The aim of this study was therefore to explain the role of the civil society in Sudanand its initiatives towards peacebuilding and reconciliation between the North Sudan and the SouthSudan. A case analysis was applied across John Paul Lederach’s analytical pyramid explaining howdifferent levels of society have contributed or failed to establish peace within the society. This studydemonstrates that civil society in Sudan has had major efforts towards peacebuilding between the twomain actors, but also major roles in other reconciliation efforts.Keywords: civil society, ethnic conflict, Sudan, South Sudan, peacebuilding.2