From Policy Promise to Statutory Entitlement: Designing a National Social Protection Bill for Fragile Statehood in South Sudan

This article designs a national Social Protection Bill for South Sudan by asking how policy promises, humanitarian safety nets and project-based cash transfers can be converted into statutory entitlements in a fragile state. The central argument is that social protection in South Sudan should not remain only a discretionary welfare programme or a donor-financed emergency response. It should become a legally recognised minimum floor that is affordable, phased, administratively realistic and enforceable through transparent grievance mechanisms. Using a doctrinal, policy-design and political-economy method, the article analyses the constitutional foundation for social rights, the institutional weaknesses that affect service delivery, the fiscal risks created by oil dependence and salary arrears, and the practical lessons from safety-net implementation in South Sudan and comparable fragile settings. The article proposes a Bill organised around seven pillars: rights and principles, eligibility and benefits, institutional mandates, financing rules, registry and data governance, shock-responsive scale-up, and accountability. It develops model clauses, equations for benefit adequacy and fiscal affordability, five analytical tables and six design visuals. The article concludes that a credible Social Protection Bill should combine a justiciable right to fair access with progressive realisation, annual appropriation discipline and emergency flexibility. In fragile statehood, the legal question is therefore not whether South Sudan can instantly guarantee full welfare coverage, but whether it can legislate a reliable entitlement pathway that protects the poorest from arbitrary exclusion while strengthening state legitimacy.