ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how the process of state formation and identity politics in South Sudan have been influenced by the legacies of enslavement, British colonial policy of indirect rule, and politics of nationalism and national liberation. It argues that the ethnicised and despotic nature of South Sudan's post-independence state contributed to the politics of exclusion – and the failure of South Sudan to transition to a state and nation. The political violence in South Sudan could have been prevented if its political leaders – in particular President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar – had agreed to find a solution via democratic mechanisms. Indeed, the political violence in South Sudan is a manifestation of how the postcolonial state was framed and constructed and a product of a specific mode of understanding. Political and judicial powers were given to traditional leaders to administer their territories, which are considered "homes" of specific ethnic groups.
