The Social Life of the Peace Agreement: An Ethnography of Localised Governance and Contested Authority in Post-Revitalised Agreement South Sudan

This ethnographic study examines the lived realities of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) beyond the capital, Juba. Based on 14 months of fieldwork in Central Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal, it analyses how the peace agreement's provisions are interpreted, enacted, and subverted in everyday local governance. The research finds that the formal power-sharing architecture is often overshadowed by hybrid systems where state authority is negotiated through a complex interplay of customary law, military hierarchies, and humanitarian economies. This localised contestation creates a fragile and uneven peace, challenging the centralised, elite-focused model of the R-ARCSS and offering critical insights for rethinking peacebuilding frameworks in South Sudan.