In the shadow of liberation: equatorian elites, power, and competing nationalisms in South Sudan

Thesis

This thesis examines the role of the nationalist ideology in shaping the dynamics of elite competition and political contestation in South Sudan, Africa’s newest country. More often, the literature on South Sudan has focused on patronage networks, warlord politics, and state failure when it comes to understanding the politics of elites and their interaction with power. In contrast, this thesis argues that the politics of post-independence South Sudan cannot be understood without an analysis of the interplay between elites, power, and nationalism, thereby furthering our academic understanding of the role and endurance of the ideology of nationalism and nationalist projects in shaping the politics in Sub-Saharan Africa.

What is the role of nationalism in structuring interactions between elites, competition, and power? How do elites shape and deploy nationalist projects? How are these projects constructed, how do they play out, and how do they compete or converge over time? And ultimately, what do these patterns reveal about nationalism, domination, ideologies, and the nature of elite power? To address these questions, this thesis examines the attempt, between 2010 and 2015, by elites hailing from the Equatoria region of South Sudan to transcend their marginality, contest the hegemonic power of a post-liberation party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), and reshape the post-independence political order by revamping and politicizing a significant idea, ‘Equatoria’. Through a wealth of original interviews conducted in South Sudan and by introducing new empirical insights, this thesis shows how Equatorian elites have turned to the idea of nationalism to articulate their political project, contest their marginalisation, and compete within the South Sudanese political landscape.

Drawing on historical sociology, social theory and comparative politics, I show how the project of Equatorian elites emerged, evolved, and interacted with the militaristic nationalist project of the SPLM, revealing internal tensions and constraints that have shaped its expression and, eventually, its demise in post-independence South Sudan, ultimately triggering the largest displacement of civilians in Africa since the Rwandan Genocide. At the heart of these tensions lie overlapping interests, competing visions of the nation, and loyalties forged during the self-proclaimed ‘liberation’ struggle. I show that behind competing nationalisms lies in fact not two or more clear-cut, ideologically coherent, monolithic forces, but eclectic and deeply connected actors with overlapping, hazy, paradoxical, and constantly evolving solidarities and moralities. Nationalism appears thus not as a relic of the past in South Sudan, but the central arena where political elites wage their struggles for power.

Authors: Sennesael, F

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-b7axyajky
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: south Sudan; Africa; nationalism; elites
• Subjects: Political Science