The 2011 secession of South Sudan spurred hopes for a more just, democratic Sudan, but was followed by new wars and growing unrest. This book examines how the Islamist project has shaped these developments in Sudan, with a particular focus on how divisive policies have driven regional violence as well as the fight against continued marginalization.

Since gaining independence in 1956, Sudan has endured a troubled history, including the longest civil war in African history in Southern Sudan and more recent conflicts such as the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. This book explores this history of ensuing conflict, examining why Sudan failed to sustain a successful modern post-colonial state. The book goes on to consider in detail the various attempts to end Sudan’s conflicts and initiate political and economic reconstruction, including the failure which followed the Addis Ababa agreement of 1982 and the more recent efforts following the Nivasha agreement of 2005 which ended the civil war in the south. It critically examines how reconstruction has been envisioned and the role of the various major players in the process: including donors, NGOs, ex-combatants and the central state authority. It argues that reconstruction can only be successful if it takes into account the fundamental and irreversible transformations of society engendered by war and conflict, which in the case of Sudan includes the massive rural to urban population flows experienced during the years of warfare. It compares possible future scenarios for Sudan, and considers how the obstacles to successful post-conflict reconstruction might best be overcome. Overall, this book will not only be of interest to scholars of Sudan and regional specialists, but to all social scientists interested in the dynamics of post-conflict reconstruction and state-building.

"Nowhere has a range of case studies of Sudan been brought together in a single volume. Given the concern with the growing number and complexity of conflicts in Sudan and South Sudan there is a significant readership in academic circles and from those involved in humanitarian organisations of all kinds." Professor Peter Woodward, University of Reading "A timely contribution to an important set of debates ... tackles questions emerging from discussions about modernisation, urbanisation and globalisation from an explicitly local angle with regards to Sudan." Dr Harry Verhoeven, University of Oxford Sudan experiences one of the most severe fissures between society and territory in Africa. Not only were its international borders redrawn when South Sudan separated in 2011, but conflicts continue to erupt over access to land: territorial claims are challenged by local and international actors; borders are contested; contracts governing the privatization of resources are contentious; and the legal entitlements to agricultural land are disputed. Under these new dynamics of land grabbing and resource extraction, fundamental relationships between people and land are being disrupted: while land has become a global commodity, for millions it still serves as a crucial reference for identity-formation and constitutes their most important source of livelihood. This book seeks to disentangle the emerging relationships between people and land in Sudan. The first part focuses on the spatial impact of resource-extracting economies: foreign agricultural land acquisitions; Chinese investments in oil production; and competition between artisanal and industrial gold mining. Detailed ethnographic case studies in the second part, from Darfur, South Kordofan, Red Sea State, Kassala, Blue Nile, and Khartoum State, show how rural people experience "their" land vis- -vis the latest wave of privatization and commercialization of land rights. J rg Gertel is Professor of Economic Geography at Leipzig University; Richard Rottenburg is Chair of Anthropology at the University of Halle; Sandra Calkins is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle

This text provides a comprehensive analysis of Sudan's unresolved struggle between supporters of the majoritarian vision who seek to create a cohesive Arab-Islamic state and the pluralists who strive for equality before the law.BR> North America: Indiana U Press

Based on fieldwork largely collected during the CPA interim period by Sudanese and European researchers, this volume sheds light on the dynamics of change and the relationship between microscale and macroscale processes which took place in Sudan between the 1980s and the independence of South Sudan in 2011. Contributors’ various disciplinary approaches—socio-anthropological, geographical, political, historical, linguistic—focus on the general issue of “access to resources.” The book analyzes major transformations which affected Sudan in the framework of globalization, including land and urban issues; water management; “new” actors and “new conflicts”; and language, identity, and ideology.

In July 2011, South Sudan was granted independence and became the world's newest country. Yet just two-and-a-half years after this momentous decision, the country was in the grips of renewed civil war and political strife. Hilde F. Johnson served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan from July 2011 until July 2014 and, as such, she was witness to the many challenges which the country faced as it struggled to adjust to its new autonomous state. In this book, she provides an unparalleled insider's account of South Sudan's descent from the ecstatic celebrations of July 2011 to the outbreak of the disastrous conflict in December 2013 and the early, bloody phase of the fighting. Johnson's frequent personal and private contacts at the highest levels of government, accompanied by her deep knowledge of the country and its history, make this a unique eyewitness account of the turbulent first three years of the world's newest - and yet most fragile - country.

Abyei of the Ngok Dinka is currently contested between the Republics of Sudan and South Sudan. The authors of Abyei Between the Two Sudans make the case that Abyei is indeed part and parcel of South Sudan, as demonstrated by the role the Ngok Dinka have played in promoting the cause of the South nationally, regionally and internationally, and specifically in the wars of liberation in which they distinguished themselves for their bravery, discipline and unwavering commitment to the national cause of the South. The book also reveals that Abyei is an area of paradoxes which, though contested, has historically served, and could still serve, as a constructive 'Bridge' of peace, reconciliation and cooperation between the two border communities, extending to their respective two neighbouring countries, the Two Sudans.