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51. Building a State without the Nation? «Peace-through-Statebuilding» in Southern Sudan, 2005-2011

Author:
Aleksi Ylönen
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
In January 2005 the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) brought Africa’s longest-running war in Southern Sudan to its formal end. Essentially a two-party power-sharing treaty between the Government of Sudan and the largest rebel organization in Southern Sudan, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the CPA, which provided a roadmap for peace between the main warring parties and facilitated the secession of Southern Sudan in July 2011, faced a number of challenges due to being imposed over a complex landscape of local political actors. This article analyzes the external intervention during the CPA implementation in Southern Sudan in 2005-2011. It treats state-building and nation-building as separate in order to demonstrate the limits of the current intervention aimed at building a legitimate and authoritative state. The article argues that the external intervention in Southern Sudan, characterized by “peace-through-state-building” approach, was unable to ensure peace during the period examined due to its lack of focus on nation building.
Topic:
Treaties and Agreements, Conflict, Peace, and State Building
Political Geography:
Africa and South Sudan

52. Iraq’s Political Factions: The Last Chance to Build a Governing Coalition?

Author:
Barry R. Posen
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
MIT Center for International Studies
Abstract:
President Bush is renewing his efforts to create an Iraq that can govern, sustain, and defend itself, and is throwing more resources at the project. The first priority must be governance, however, as administration and defense cannot happen without a functioning government. And government cannot function without a legitimate, broad-based, political consensus. Such a consensus has eluded Iraqis since March 2003, and the President’s new strategy includes no political program to create such a consensus. Instead, he counts on creating a coalition of existing “moderates,” which do not exist, as the intense violence within Iraq clearly demonstrates. Thus, the President’s troop increases, economic assistance, and intensified train- ing will likely prove futile.
Topic:
Imperialism, Democracy, State Building, and Iraq War
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Middle East, and North America