Elites and Constitution-Making in a Multi-ethnic Society: Challenges to Constitution-making in South Sudan

Abstract

This article examines constitution-making in post-conflict South Sudan, and asks a number of central questions. How inclusive was this process? What challenges were faced, and what lessons could be learnt from them for future constitution-making in this country? What impacts do the state institutions created by the Constitution have on peace and stability in South Sudan? Using a qualitative case-study methodology, the article takes the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan of 2011 as a case of constitution-making in post-conflict states. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 key informants selected from members of the Constitutional Review Commission, political parties, and parliament using purposive sampling techniques. The objective of the study is to investigate past constitution-making and discern what lessons could be learnt for future constitution-making in post-conflict South Sudan. The findings show that the post-independent South Sudan’s constitutional design as a multi-ethnic society has been elite-driven and exclusive. The article argues that failure to make constitution-making a people-driven process brought about failure in building inclusive and capable state institutions and shared values among the peoples of South Sudan. It also argues that lack of political recognition of ethnic diversity led to the political and economic marginalisation of some nationalities. These failures in state- and nation-building culminated in the eruption of the December 2013 conflict and the political and governance crises it entrained. For South Sudan to achieve sustainable peace and inclusive state- and nation-building, constitution-making must be an inclusive and public-driven process responsive to the society’s diversity.