The Politics of Implementation: A Qualitative Analysis of Elite Bargaining and Institutional Stasis in South Sudan's Revitalised Peace Agreement

This qualitative study examines the protracted implementation of South Sudan's 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS). It argues that the formal peace architecture has been systematically subverted by entrenched elite bargaining, which prioritises power-sharing dividends over transformative institutional reform. Through in-depth analysis of elite interviews and documentary sources, the research traces how this bargaining reproduces a political economy of conflict, undermines security sector reform, and perpetuates governance deficits. The findings reveal a critical disjuncture between the agreement's ambitious provisions and the realities of a political settlement designed to manage, rather than resolve, core drivers of instability. The article concludes that without addressing these foundational political dynamics, sustainable peace in South Sudan will remain elusive.