South Sudan is in the process of becoming the international community's next big state-building project, as donors seek to avert the danger of South Sudan imploding amid internal conflicts. Even under a strong leadership focused on development, progress in the establishment and consolidation of the new state would likely be slow. But the prevailing political conditions are far from providing a favourable environment for state-building. In its quest for stability, the South Sudanese leadership is vulnerable to the demands of innumerable rival forces for political inclusion and access to the state's resources. This makes it next to impossible for the government to pursue consistent development policies and enforce difficult decisions. Instead, state resources and institutions are being used primarily to build clientelist structures, and the government lacks the will to root out endemic corruption or tackle serious human rights violations by the security forces.
Donors' experiences to date suggest that under these circumstances, international support for state-building and stabilisation has not only failed to achieve its goals, but often has unintended or even counterproductive consequences. In view of the poor prospects of success and unpredictable consequences of external support, donors should significantly scale down their ambitions in South Sudan. Smaller projects with predictable outcomes are likely to be more appropriate than large-scale international state-building. More generally, donors should tie their assistance much more closely to improvements in the human rights situation and more vigorous action against corruption.
