Key Factors Influencing Conflict Relapse in South Sudan: A Conceptual Analysis

This article examined the factors that influence conflict relapse in South Sudan and attempted to provide policy recommendations. Despite numerous local and international interventions through peace processes and other aspects of conflict interventions, conflict in South Sudan continues to recur. Since its independence from North Sudan, the people in South Sudan have never experienced a culture of peace. The country has been engulfed in flames due to widespread violent conflicts. The paper was located within the peace and conflict research field and argued from a standpoint of conflict recurrence. It asserted that the corruption-security nexus, failed governance, poor services delivery, unmet basic human needs, inequality and poverty trigger conflict relapse in South Sudan. The paper made a scholarly contribution to the fields of political science and sociology by arguing that the corruption-security nexus, kleptocracy form of leadership, poor service delivery, unmet basic human needs, inequality and poverty lead to a security threat. This article recommended that there is a need for political goodwill to address structural violence. There is also a great need to establish the rule of law that promotes accountability and transparency. Not unless there is an intentional change in governance, violence might continue to be a common phenomenon in South Sudan. To achieve these assertions, this paper used a qualitative research design with as the data collection technique.