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This Weekly Review provides an assessment of South Sudan’s National Elections Act, 2023. At only 14 months (at the time of writing) await from the election’s planned date, the Review analyses the National Elections Act (Amendment 2023) passed by the Revitalized National Legislature, its merits and shortcomings. Lastly, the Review provides a series of policy recommendations aimed at supporting the operationalisation of the Act. Read more here

Focusing on the governor of Western Bar El Ghazel state, Sarah Cleto, this Situation Update discusses successes and challenges of her administration. Despite her grassroots popularity, members of the opposition are calling for her removal. Attempts to replace Cleto, however, have been stalled by internal power struggles—highlighting the complexities of Western Bahr el Ghazal’s ethnic politics. Read here

This meta-analysis provides an overview of the literature available on South Sudan’s regional dynamics. Covering the 2011-2023 period, it explores the relations between South Sudan and its neighbors and the related political, economic and security implications. It provides a selection of relevant publications and extracts some of the most salient questions for donor-funding programming on these topics.

This article investigates contestations over the roles and legitimacy of gangs within the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Bentiu, South Sudan. Drawing on qualitative interviews, it argues that ‘gangs’ represented the medium through which everyday struggles and processes of social contestations were negotiated between youth, elders, and protection actors. Prevailing narratives of gangs as violent criminal entities structured conflict with elders and protection actors, but to their…

ABSTRACT This article attempts to position education not only in the peacebuilding debate but also in the larger good governance debate about what makes a resilient social contract. We subscribe in this paper to a theoretical perspective that attributes the driver of civil wars to governance deficit that is manifested in absence of resilient social contract in terms of sustained agreement between citizens and state. We then ask the key question of whether and how…

This book (OPEN ACCESS) provides a fresh perspective on conflict and peace-making that highlights the cosmologies and invisible entities that state, society and religious authorities draw on to claim or reclaim legitimacy and control. Drawing on archive, ethnographic and oral history research, as well as participant observations of the elite peace negotiations since 2013, Pendle describes the peace-making efforts of a range of actors from international diplomats to chiefs, Nuer prophets and local priests, to…

Whether or not, and if, when, and then, how? Open questions on South Sudan’s first elections planned for December 2024 abound. On the one hand is the people’s demonstrated will for election to happen rather sooner than later, on the other is the magnitude of challenges against the backdrop of slow implementation of the peace agreement – and fear that an election gone wrong could exacerbate violence and humanitarian crises. The FES South Sudan Office…

This quarterly report of the Reconstituted joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) on the status of implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R_ARCSS) is prepared pursuant to article 7.9 of the R-ARCSS and covers the period of 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2023. It is prepared on the basis of reports received various sources, including reports from the Agreement institutions and mechanisms, RJMEC…

This book chapter discusses the history of urbanisation of Juba as the capital of South Sudan after the 2011 independence. The article explores how citizens’ expectations in relation to the urbanisation agenda differ from those of the elites, including on service delivery. Finally, it provides insights on how South Sudan’s urban authorities’ response to needs and challenges facing a growing urban population has contributed to violence.   Download the book here.

In the aftermath of war, local government in Western Equatoria, South Sudan, set out to formalize urban land to make it more legible, less conflictual, and ready for the state’s vision of tomorrow. But the process proved problematic, and it caused and rekindled countless land disputes. Based on qualitative research at courts, county offices, and contested plots, this paper finds that these disputes were at their root about five competing normative repertoires about land distribution:…

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