Humanitarian permanence: the political economy of South Sudan’s reign of insecurity

This article analyses the political economy of conflict in South Sudan as it has developed over the past 40 years and introduces the concept of humanitarian permanence to characterise a strategy whereby international aid has become an integral component to the economy. This local–international relationship is traced to the early and mid 1980s during the Second Civil War, while it also builds on earlier colonial patterns. The political economy of war in South Sudan involves a different specialisation and dynamic than those described in many of the ‘war economies’ around specific resources elsewhere in Africa. The concept of plural society characterises the social and economic framework that has been developed in the capital Juba as a central aid hub to this economy. The article thereby suggests a need for reconsidering international, including humanitarian, aid and its role. Moreover, it requires a reconsideration of how state building is conceptualised, since it here primarily functions as a façade.