Land governance and the conflict in South Sudan

This paper examines how land governance – or the rules, processes, and structures through which decisions are made about access to land and its use, the manner in which the decisions are implemented and enforced, and the way that competing interests in land are managed – has interacted with the conflict in South Sudan.1 A theme running through the paper is that control over decisions relating to land, as much as control over the land itself, has served as a means for individuals and groups to advance their interests in the conflict setting.