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South Sudan: The Perils of Security Governance and the Treacherous Path to Democratic Transition
Luka Biong Deng Kuol
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2134/2025.02.002
Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Washington, USA; The Sudd Institute, Juba, South Sudan; University of Juba, Juba, South Sudan
There is a growing recognition of the critical role of security governance in advancing democratic transition in the post-conflict environment. Despite such a recognition, the security sector reform concept has overshadowed the importance of the overarching strategic role of security governance in transition to democracy, particularly in Africa. This paper assesses the status and challenges facing security governance and how they thwarted the efforts to furthering the democratic transition in South Sudan. The paper shows a deterioration in security, safety and security governance outcomes since the independence of South Sudan in 2011 with such a trend unlikely to be abated in the near future without strategic interventions. Some of the challenges facing security governance in South Sudan include the legacies of some historical events including the “Big Tent Policy”, absence of strategic leadership, lack of overarching policy framework, impractical and tenuous security arrangements in the 2018 peace agreement, persistent postponement of the first elections, and dysfunctional justice sector. The paper provides some strategic and operational recommendations to improve security governance and advance democratic transition in South Sudan. These recommendations include formulation of an inclusive and people-centered national security policy, rigorous judicial reform, and early political agreement on new political infrastructure if conditions for holding the first national elections are not met in 2026.
Security, Governance, South Sudan, Peace Agreement, Policy, Justice, Reform, Democratic Transition
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