Administrative Boundaries as Instruments of Political Power: County Creation, Representation and Conflict in South Sudan, 2005–2026

Background: In contested political orders, however, the creation, dissolution and redrawing of subnational jurisdictions can redistribute access to office, recognition, fiscal transfers, land authority and coercive resources. Objective: This article develops a multi-mechanism analytical account of administrative boundaries in South Sudan from the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement period to 2026. Methods: The article proposes a reproducible boundary-event register, a spatially harmonised county-period panel, a set of competing causal hypotheses and a mixed-method triangulation strategy combining gazetted legal instruments, geospatial boundaries, conflict events and locally grounded histories. Results: Existing sources establish significant political contestation around boundary arrangements but cannot by themselves identify a causal effect of county creation on violence. Conclusion: Territorial administration is commonly presented as a device for bringing government closer to communities.