South Sudan: Challenges Facing Africa's Newest State

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With the continued development of third-world countries becoming more of a trend, international powers expect that the world is making a larger shift towards total democracy. With the establishment of one of the world’s newest states, South Sudan has many challenges ahead of them yet to conquer in their quest of total independence. How can one make sense of the international relations of establishing a new state. Since secession is not a new theory, we should outline and map the challenges faced by the country of South Sudan. This term paper will provide a brief background, and discuss the challenges that are faced by the newest state of Africa. It’s important for international relations researchers to carefully observe and note these challenges, which can then be applied to other nations in the future.

The Republic of South Sudan is a country in northeastern Africa. Its current capital city is Juba, the nation’s largest city. Sudan (including South Sudan) was originally a part of Egypt, dating back to the Muhammad Ali Dynasty. It was later governed as an Anglo-Egyptian colony until it’s independence, in 1956. In 1972 following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed, which lasted until 1983. A second civil war emerged, which ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. Also that year, the Autonomous Government of South Sudan was formed. (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012)

On 9 July 2011, South Sudan Seceded from North Sudan, becoming an independent nation, which is not without it’s challenges, both internally and externally. This paper will examine some of these challenges. It can first be noted that South Sudan may not be ready for independence, as the international ...

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