UN-Led State Building in South Sudan

The article details the secessionist struggle which led to the birth of the nation of South Sudan and to the endeavour of the United Nations to build a new state through its Mission in South Sudan(UNMISS). The author shows that the mission mostly failed to pacify the multi-ethnic country and had to switch priorities from state-building to humanitarian relief, which was uneven and consequently accentuated internal divisions between regions. It is argued that lessons should be learned and that a Weberian society-centric approach should be applied henceforth, in preference to the prevalent ‘state-centric’ one.