Analysing South Sudan’s politics of taxation from 1899 to 2023, this article argues that the ethos of taxation in the region has been and remains primarily oriented around predatory and coercive strategies of rule. Patterns of taxation and their origin are presented by considering taxation practices in colonial, post-colonial rebel-led, and independent South Sudan, to showcase how these practices continued to be yielded as a technology of rule, of coercion, and to fulfill the interests…

South Sudan’s rotten state finances are derailing the young country from its already fraught path to peace and stability after a brutal civil war. Top officials hold the country’s oil riches close, barring scrutiny of spending and allowing rampant misappropriation of funds. This slush-fund governance is at the heart of South Sudan’s system of winner-take-all politics and helps explain why so much went so wrong so quickly after independence in 2011. The peace deal signed…

By focusing on the case study of the negotiations over social service tax in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state, this article provides insights on state formation processes, inter-governmental negotiations and citizen-state relations in South Sudan. This is achieved by considering the economic and political developments that have shaped local and state level negotiations, such as the 2010 elections, the 2012 half of oil exploration and the 2013 decline into civil war. The analysis is further enriched…

Curious to broaden your search to Sudan?
Try our sister facility CSF