Return as Redistribution: Housing, Land and Political Coalitions in South Sudan’s Post-Displacement Towns

Background: Return after displacement is often treated as a demographic and humanitarian event. Objective: This article conceptualises return as redistribution: a negotiation over dwellings, plots, documentation, rents, customary authority, municipal recognition and claims to political membership. IOM Round 16 monitored 1,992,513 internally displaced persons and 2,963,408 returnees in February 2025; these categories reflect the monitoring design and cannot be equated with verified urban land claimants. No original regression estimates or household survey responses are claimed. The argument contributes a mechanism-based framework linking population movement, property claims, administrative discretion and public trust. Methods: It specifies a transparent county- and neighbourhood-level mixed-methods design for a future causal study, including registry reconstruction, event histories, structured interviews and sensitivity analyses. Results: The 2025 UNHCR results report records 34,508 individuals assisted through housing, land and property activities, with overlapping service categories. Conclusion: Implications concern transparent allocation criteria, accessible land adjudication, gender-sensitive documentation and auditable municipal records.