In a new article published in African Affairs, Alex de Waal argues that South Sudan obtained independence in July 2011 as a kleptocracy – a militarized, corrupt neo-patrimonial system of governance. By the time of independence, the South Sudanese ‘political marketplace’ was so expensive that the country’s comparatively copious revenue was consumed by the military-political patronage system, with almost nothing left for public services, development or institution building. The efforts of national technocrats and foreign donors produced bubbles of institutional integrity but the system as a whole was entirely resistant to reform. The January 2012 shutdown of oil production bankrupted the system. Even an experienced and talented political business manager would have struggled, and President Salva Kiir did not display the required skills. No sooner had shots been fired than the compact holding the SPLA together fell apart and civil war ensued. Drawing upon long-term observation of elite politics in South Sudan, this article explains both the roots of kleptocratic government and its dire consequences.
Dear All,
from the prism of political economy,failed states are the making of their foreign markets makers.As the competition is neck cutting(secondary contradiction) causing economic cyclical stagnation,within the domestic market,and causes dismantling and fragmentation in the external market.in the age of globalization no way to repeat neither the right to conquest nor the spheres of influence of berlin and Yalta conference.so creating stooge group s .In south sudan markets and strategic interests competition between Isreal and Us is the source of state collapse. In sudan it is the anglophone/francophone one.With the increase in the supply side of powers the friction increases.