South Sudan's Fateful Struggle: Building Peace in a State of War

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement marked the end of Sudan's second civil war between the North and South. But in creating an autonomous southern region and a pathway toward statehood, it failed to resolve the effects of rebel factionalism, party infighting, and corruption in the South.

In South Sudan's Fateful Struggle, Steven C. Roach analyzes these persistent effects of the South-South war, showing how they disrupted the transition to statehood and divided the transitional government of national unity in South Sudan. Throughout, he stresses the centrality of elite mismanagement and the durable dynamics of war which have shaped the country's troubled political destiny. The government, plagued by patronage-fueled corruption and patrimonialism, continues to rely on the threat of violence to govern the country and to delay the transition to a new government of national unity. Roach argues that in naturally sowing division and distrust, government elites must ultimately learn to engage civil society to achieve long-term peace, accountability, and justice. Along with providing an overview of the country's trajectory in this century, Roach traces its state of war to colonial times and uses the notion of militarized patronage to describe the distinct nature of South Sudan's patronage networks. He shows how the Sudan People's Liberation Movement came to dominate the country's affairs to become a powerful deterrent to democracy, security, justice, and national unity. He then discusses the promising efforts by civil society actors to advance hybrid justice by pressuring the government to implement a truth commission, a war crimes court, and reparations commission.

Comprehensive in scope, the book represents the first systematic examination of South Sudan's quandary both before and after its civil war.

Author: Steven C. Roach
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 10/06/2023
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.27lbs
Size: 9.31h x 6.40w x 0.87d
ISBN: 9780190057848


Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2024

About the Author
Steven C. Roach is Professor and Distinguished Scholar of International Relations at the University of South Florida. A Fulbright Scholar (2020-21), he has written extensively on South Sudan's politics and published widely on international ethics and affairs. From 2019-2020, he served as Country Expert of USAID's Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance assessment team in South Sudan (2019-2020). Among his most recent books are International Relations: The Key Concepts, Fourth Edition (2022), Moral Responsibility in Twenty-First Century Warfare (2020), Decency and Difference (2019), and The Challenge of Governance in South Sudan (2019).