Empirical studies in Africa demonstrate that the categorisation of PSCs is problematic. The paper examines the services that large and small security organisatons offer and finds that three are non-commercial as well as commercial motives behind their operations. In other words not all are business operating for profit but may be non-profit-making community organisations. Secondly so called security organisations are frequently providing services that are more closely tied to justice than security to dispute resolution rather than the containment of and defence from violences. Thirdly a close examination proves that are they are less autonomous from the state than is often suggested. Far from being truly privae they are often linked to varying degrees to the state both by practice, personnel and even by legislation. The paper concludes that the use of PSCs as a category should be used with caution as it hides considerable differences. This should be taken into account in policy making that too often sees this as a coherent sector.
