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.
