The Dynamics of State Failure and Violence: A Comparative Study of Rebellion and Peace Processes in South Sudan's Contemporary History, 2016

South Sudan's independence 9 July 2011 prompted several questions concerning the historical background for this new state formation: After more than fifty years of contentious politics, what made the establishment of South Sudan possible? Was the 54th state in Africa a result of the South Sudanese' decades of armed struggle, foreign diplomatic intervention or perhaps the weakness of the Sudanese state? Taking a step back we see that the combination of weak states and violent politics is a defining trait of the eastern African region where brutal counter-insurgency, proxy warfare and military intervention are constantly taking place. Yet, violent politics and the challenges of governing a country in a permanently bad neighbourhood has been poorly understood. This project sought to analyse South Sudan's independence within a broader regional and global context. It was achieved by taking a multi-disciplinary approach, and employing a range of methods; such as archival research, collection of oral sources, field visits, comparative case-study approaches, and testing of theoretical models.

Project contributors delivered towards a two-pronged research agenda. One part focused on South Sudan's contemporary history using recently unearthed archival material. The other part focused on analysing the broader regional context through synthesising studies and close examination of cases in eastern African countries such as Somalia, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For further information about ”The Dynamics of State Failure and Violence: A Comparative Study of Rebellion and Peace Processes in South Sudan's Contemporary History, 2016”, please contact the principal investigator.