Foreign policy and peace building in South Sudan

Abstract

This study sought to assess South Sudan’s foreign policy and peace building in the current political state where lack of peace and political instability has taken center stage. This was achieved by three specific objectives, which included; establishing the effectiveness of South Sudan Foreign Policy, to examine the nature of Peace Building in South Sudan, and to establish the Influence of South Sudan Foreign Policy on Peace Building in South Sudan. Political realism Theory by Richard Ned Lebow (1951) guided the study and mixed methods approaches were used. Descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional and narrative designs were used on a sample of 103 respondents. Survey questionnaire and interview guide were used to collect data from the respondents. Findings revealed that effectiveness of foreign policy in South Sudan is low, but not forgetting that despite the low average means, South Sudan was highly effective in implementing the two indicators of foreign policy, Low or limited efforts were being made towards peace building in the republic of South Sudan, despite the sole effort by the church to promote peace building in the country, and foreign policy in South Sudan has a positive and significant effect on the peace building in South Sudan. The study recommends that South Sudan government should improve their effectiveness in foreign policy; efforts should be made towards improving equity and social cohesion within the country and a coordinated improvement by the government of South Sudan, other government organs and partners in foreign policy implementation to subsequently influence peace-building process in South Sudan.