Abstract
The overall objective of the study was to analyze, interrogate and determine what were the
inclusive aspects of state building and challenges of fragmentation
in the Republic of South
Sudan.
This research identif
ied
solutions that were less understood in areas of contentions
and interventions practices of creating and consolidating South Sudan state in the modern
context.
The specific objectives of the study were to investigate major t
hemes in state
building paradigms, identify and assess generally the evolutions, current debates and
emerging trends strengthening intra
-
national bonds to help promote political, economic, and
social and security structures needed to consolidate the state.
The study employed both
phenomenological and critical methods of research investigation applying empirical and
theoretical approaches. An effort of nation state building was conducted during war (1983
-
2005), in the interim period (2005
-
2011) and in the fi
rst year of independence (2011
-
2012)
and was projected for the years to come. The hypothesis of this research was that efforts of
reconstruction seemed to focus on state
-
building and less on nation
-
building of which was
highly being doubted to make any leg
itimate progress in helping to promote the types of
institutions and structures needed to stabilize the state or reduce the obstacles.
Primary data
was collected through the interview with political actors, decision
-
makers and institutions
involved in nat
ion building such as government institutions, development partners and the
larger civil society groups that had crucial stake in South Sudan’s future. Observation on the
state of affairs and possible focus group interviewed and special interview to elicit
critical
view w
as
conducted with concern persons and groups involved in issues of governance in
South Sudan. Depth interviews with special informants, focus group discussions and
observation proved very apt methods applied in the research for data collecti
on in the post
secession Republic of South Sudan.
Methods of generating secondary data included the
internet for more information from the reliable internet home pages concerning interaction
amongst South Sudan stakeholders both inside and outside South S
udan. Newspapers and
other relevant articles focusing on the nation
-
building projects was another source.
Frequencies and content analysis were employed to analyze primary data.
The study
concluded that state
-
building did not seek to universalize the stat
e form
-
as in the period of
decolonization
-
but rather concealed the disintegration of this form under the interventionist
pressures of the post
-
Cold War international order. The promise that ‘state
-
building’ held out
was that of relieving country predom
inant elites from the need to legitimize and clearly
articulate the new hierarchy of domination revealed by the collapse of the UN Charter
framework of state sovereignty and non
-
intervention. In a world where the Great Powers had
more confidence in themsel
ves and were able to coherently project a sense of purpose, it was
unlikely that there would be such a demand for distance and the perceived need to create
fictional ‘partners’ and phantom states to bear the responsibility for policy outcomes.
Since
the G
overnment of South Sudan inherited a fragmented region and was itself deeply divided
as it started to take up its governance responsibilities and the South’s unity has come with a
x
price tag; the embryonic institutions of South Sudan’s state have developed
into fully fledged
instruments of patronage. Scores of political positions were given in reward or created for
those in need of accommodation and co
-
optation, including the incorporation of past
insurgent militias into the SPLA. While this was crucial in b
uilding the desired measure of
post
-
conflict stability, the focus on establishing and maintaining inclusive elite buy
-
in has
resulted in bloated and largely dysfunctional civil and security services, the salary costs of
which are estimated to account for a
round 40% of the country’s budget, the GoSS therefore
needs to streamline its government so as to ensure that most of its resources is not wasted on
salaries and other things that are not fundamental to state building, but it should ensure that
everything
is concentrated to state building and whole inclusion
