State Fragility, Regime Survival and Spoilers in South Sudan

  • Samuel Adu-Gyamfi Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi
  • Ivan M. Ashaba University of Antwerp
  • Sebastian A. Paalo University of Queensland
Keywords: South Sudan, fragility, regime survival, spoilers, failed states

Abstract

This paper draws on the notion of state fragility in three dimensions – Authority failures, Service delivery failures and Legitimacy failures as developed by Stewart and Brown. Using Stewart and Brown’s analysis of fragile states, the authors examine how recent events in South Sudan push the country into being the most fragile state. In furthering this three-dimensional approach, we attempt two important questions. How has South Sudan succumbed to fragility since attaining independence? Who influences peace in the country? The authors grapple with these questions by investigating events in South Sudan from the period of signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA 1 2005), independence in 2011, signing CPA 2 in 2015 up to present. The paper singles out the desire for regime survival as the major cause of fragility. The authors further argue that insecurity and instability are exacerbated by spoiling behaviour of certain powers and individuals, whose activities undermine state authority and creates disorder.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi

Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, PhD, lectures at the Department of History and Political Studies of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)- Kumasi-Ghana. His research focus is on evolutions in social and political development of Africa, evolutions in health, public health and health policy, environment, policy in science and technology, traditional and integrative medicine research and public opinion. He is also a member of Ghana Studies Association, Historical Society of Ghana among others. He is also the Head of Programmes, Research and Educational Facilitator for the Association of Global Citizens-Ghana and Deputy-Director for Action –Oriented Centre for Social and Environmental Awareness (ACSEA)-Ghana.  Again, he is also a member of the Research and Publications Committee of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). In addition, he is a member of Poverty Alleviation, Local Governance and Sustainable Development (CoPALGSD-Ghana) and International Society for Development and Sustainability (ISDS)-Japan. The others include Ghana Studies Association and Historical Society of Ghana. Dr. Adu-Gyamfi is a major discussant on socio-economic, political, cultural and religious issues on major media platforms and landscape in Ghana. He has equally made significant contributions in terms of research output and is equally available for collaborative research toward this end. He can be reached at: mcgyamfi@yahoo.com, or sadu-gyamfi.cass@knust.edu.gh.

Ivan M. Ashaba, University of Antwerp

Ivan M. Ashaba is a teaching assistant and Ph.D candidate at the Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp, Belgium. He holds an MA in Political Science (2012) and Msc. in Governance & Development (2016). Before joining IOB at the end of 2017, I worked at Uganda Christian University in the department of Public Administration and Governance since 2013. As a research and teaching assistant, he is actively involved in tutoring and facilitating the students’ overall learning process. His doctoral research looks at illegal wildlife trade and the nature of the Ugandan state. Outside his Ph.D work, he follows closely the politics in his home country Uganda and the East African region at large. He has written short pieces on Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya in African Arguments and Democracy in Africa. He can be reached at: Ivan.Ashaba@uantwerpen.be.

Sebastian A. Paalo, University of Queensland

Sebastian A. Paalo is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland (Australia).  His PhD project focuses on ‘Local Ownership in Peacebuilding in Africa’, with specific attention on the role of NGOs. Paalo holds MSc. in African Studies (focused on African politics, conflict and peace) from University of Oxford (UK) and MSc. Governance & Development from University of Antwerp (Belgium). Currently, he is the Policy, Networks and Partnerships Coordinator for YouthLED Africa (YOLA, an NGO). Some selected previous engagements of his include the following: a steering committee member of the Oxford network for Peace Studies (OxPeace) ; an affiliate of the Oxford student consultancy services ; and a Teaching/Research Assistant at Kwame Nkrumah university of Science and Technology (NUST- Ghana). Finally, Paalo’s research interest cuts across peacebuilding, conflict resolution, governance, political economy and state capacity with particular interest and expertise on Western and Eastern Africa.He can be reached at: sebastianpaalo@gmail.com.

References

Abu-Zaid, Ahmed. 2017. “Aftermaths of 3 years of armed conflict in South Sudan.” The Lancet 389 (10069): 599.

Ahmed, Einas. 2009. “The Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the dynamics of post-conflict political partnership in Sudan.” Africa Spectrum 2: 133-147.

Blanchard, Ploch. 2016. “Conflict in South Sudan and the Challenges Ahead.” Congressional Research Service Report Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress, Congressional Research Service 7-5700.

De Waal, Alex. 2009. “Mission without end? Peacekeeping in the African political marketplace.” International Affairs 85/1: 99-113.

De Waal, Alex. 2014. “When kleptocracy becomes insolvent: Brute causes of the civil war in South Sudan.” African Affairs 113 (452): 347-369.

De Waal, Alex. 2016. “A Political Marketplace Analysis of South Sudan’s Peace.” Medford, MA: Justice and Security Research Foundation Brief 2: 1-7.

Dix Sarah, Hussmann Karen, and Walton, Grant. 2012. “Risks of corruption to state legitimacy and stability in fragile situations.” U4 Issue 2012/3.

Harragin, Simon. 2011. “South Sudan: Waiting for Peace to Come Study from Bor, Twic East & Duk Counties in Jonglei.” Local to Global Protection 1-103.

Helman, Gerald, and Steven Ratner. 1992. “Saving failed states.” Foreign Policy 89: 3-20.

Haynie, Devon. 2017. “South Sudan is once again the World’s Most Fragile State.”

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2017-05-15/report-south-sudan-is-once-again-the-worlds-most-fragile-state. Accessed: 07.09.2017.

Justin, Peter Hakim and Lotje De Vries. 2019. “Governing Unclear Lines: Local Boundaries as a (Re)source of Conflict in South Sudan.” Journal of Borderlands Studies 34/1: 31-46.

Kasaija, Phillip. 2015. “IGAD’s Mediation in the Current South Sudan Conflict: Prospects and Challenges.” African Security 8/2: 120-145.

Lindenmayer, Elisabeth and Josie Lianna Kaye. 2009. A Choice for Peace?: The Story of Forty-One Days of Mediation in Kenya. New York: International Peace Institute (IPI).

Mamdani, Mahmood. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton. Princeton University Press.

Mason, Simon (ed). 2012. “Translating Mediation Guidance into Practice: Commentary on the UN Guidance for Effective Mediation.” Mediation Support Network, No. 2, New York and Accra.

Mc Evoy, Claire and Emily LeBrun. 2010. Uncertain future: armed violence in Southern Sudan. Small Arms Survey, Geneva.

Mcloughlin, Claire. 2015. “Researching State Legitimacy: A Political Approach to a Political Problem.” DLP, Research Paper 36. Birmingham: Development Leadership Program, University of Birmingham.

Medani, Khalid Mustafa. 2011. “Strife and secession in Sudan.” Journal of Democracy 22/3: 135-149.

OECD. 2011. 2011 Report on International Engagement in Fragile States: Republic of South Sudan. OECD Publishing.

Onyango, George. 2012. “The Place of Spoilers in Peace Processes in Sudan.” African Journal of Political Science and International Relations 6/8: 167–180.

Pinaud, Clement. 2014. “South Sudan: civil war, predation, and the making of a military aristocracy.” African Affairs 113 (451): 192–211.

Rolandsen, Øystein. 2015. “Small and Far Between: Peacekeeping Economies in South Sudan.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 9/3: 353-371.

Sandu, Ciprian. 2014. “The South Sudan coup: A political rivalry that turned ethnic.” Conflict Studies Quarterly 7: 49-65.

Sarwar, Nadia. 2012. “Post-independence South Sudan: an era of hope and challenges.” Strategic Studies 32: 172-182.

Stewart, Frances and Brown, Graham. 2010. “Fragile States, CRISE.” Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity 3, June 2010.

Sudd Institute. 2014. South Sudan’s Crisis: Its Drivers, Key Players, and Post-Conflict Prospects. Juba, South Sudan: Sudd Institute Special Report.

The Economist. 2014. Back with a Vengeance: Conflict in South Sudan, 410(8876): 42. Mar 1, 2014, London.

The Sentry. 2016. “War Crimes Shouldn’t Pay. Stopping the looting and destruction in South Sudan.” Investigative Report, September 2016.

Thoms, Oskar and Ron James. 2007. “Do human rights violations cause internal conflict?” Human Rights Quarterly 29/3: 674-705.

Twijnstra, Rens and Kristof, Titeca. 2016. “Everything changes to remain the same? State and Tax Reform in South Sudan.” The Journal of Modern African Studies 549/2: 263-292.

Ylönen, Aleksi. 2016. “Reflections on peacebuilding interventionism: State-and nation building dilemmas in Southern Sudan (2005 to the present).” Global Change, Peace & Security 28/2: 213-223.

Wennmann, Achim. 2009. “Getting Armed Groups to the Table: peace processes, the political economy of conflict and the mediated state.” Third World Quarterly 30/6: 1123-1138.

Wilen, Nina. 2015. “How to unite enemy fighters into a single national army (and what that means for peace).” Washington Post.

Published
2019-05-30
Section
Articles