The project addresses three overarching research questions directed at South Sudan during the period 1955-2005 and to relevant cases in East Africa and the Horn. The questions are designed to tease out the ideographic traits of the individual cases and to capture the variation and diversity across time periods. The answers to these questions also have wider implications. They point towards a nuanced and comprehensive framework of analysis for the study of failed states and political violence.
- How do the dynamics of motive and opportunity influence political processes related to rebellion and peace negotiation?
- How are politics and violence related in the context of a failing state?
- How do states, groups and individuals relate to national boundaries, neighbouring countries, international actors and global trends in cases of civil war and peace negotiations?
In answering these questions, the historian’s long-term perspective is essential for counteracting the tendency towards homogenisation in large-n studies of conflict and peace-making: the Sudan and related cases suggest significant change in contextual factors over time, even within the individual cases.