Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:02:56.840Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

First there were 10: the case for and against South Sudan's new states using discourse analysis and argumentation theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2019

Sandra E.K.Y. Tombe
Sandra E.K.Y. Tombe*
Affiliation:
School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, Vernon Smith Hall, 3434 Washington Blvd., Arlington, VA 22201, USA
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 2015, South Sudan increased the number of its states from 10 to 28, followed by four more states in 2017. The redrawing of internal borders came through presidential decree as South Sudan's violent civil war continued to unfold. This development has led to two ardent voices: one arguing to maintain the new states, and another advocating to reverse them. Applying argumentation theory and critical discourse analysis to news articles, analysis pieces, and press releases collected from Gurtong and Sudan Tribune from July 2015 to April 2017, this article assesses the argument advanced by both camps and evaluates their implications for peace in South Sudan. In examining the claim, the counter-claim, and their underlying premises, the article finds areas of contention and convergence between the two camps and argues for the compatibility of the values which undergird both positions.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 437 - 458
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I am thankful to Dr Terrence Lyons, Dr Susan Allen, Brian Adeba, the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution Working Papers Workshop, and to the two anonymous reviewers who provided valuable comments on this work.

References

REFERENCES

Aljazeera. 2016. <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/tens-thousands-displaced-south-sudan-violence-160712105605795.html>, accessed 13.7.2016.,+accessed+13.7.2016.>Google Scholar
Andreski, S. 1968. The African Predicament: a study in the pathology of modernization. New York, NY: Atherton Press.Google Scholar
Blackledge, A. 2005. Discourse and Power in a Multilingual World. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Bourgault, L.M. 1993. ‘Press freedom in Africa: a cultural analysis’, Journal of Communication Inquiry 17, 2: 69–92.Google Scholar
De Waal, A. 2014. ‘When kleptocracy becomes insolent: brute causes of the civil war in South Sudan’, African Affairs 113, 452: 347–69.Google Scholar
De Waal, A. & Pendle, N.. 2019. ‘Decentralisation and the logic of the political marketplace in South Sudan’, in Kuol, L.B.D. & Logan, S., eds. The Struggle for South Sudan: challenges of security and state formation. London: Taurus, 172–94.Google Scholar
Deng, L.B. 2010. ‘Social capital and civil war: the Dinka communities in Sudan's civil war’, African Affairs 109, 435: 231–50.Google Scholar
Fagotto, M. 2011. ‘Independent – but still troubled’, Maclean's 124, 27: 23.Google Scholar
Fairclough, I. & Fairclough, N.. 2011. ‘Practical reasoning in political discourse: the UK government's response to the economic crisis in the 2008 Pre-Budget Report’, Discourse & Society 22, 3: 243–68.Google Scholar
Fairclough, N. & Fairclough, I.. 2012. Political Discourse Analysis. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Frahm, O. 2015. ‘Making borders and identities in South Sudan’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 33, 2: 251–67.Google Scholar
Government of the Republic of the Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Sudan People's Liberation Army (GRS & SPLM/A). 2005. Comprehensive Peace Agreement. 2005. Naivasha: GRS & SPLM/A.Google Scholar
Gurtong. 2016. ‘Peace and media project’. <http://www.gurtong.net/AboutGurtong/tabid/146/Default.aspx>, accessed 27.6.2016.,+accessed+27.6.2016.>Google Scholar
Hutt, M. 2006. ‘Things that should not be said: censorship and self-censorship in the Nepali press media’, Journal of Asian Studies 65, 2: 361–92.Google Scholar
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). 2015. Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. Addis Ababa: IGAD.Google Scholar
Intergovernmental Authority on Development. 2018. Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. Addis Ababa: IGAD.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. 2019. ‘Federalism in the history of South Sudanese political thought’, in Kuol, L.B.D. & Logan, S., eds. The Struggle for South Sudan: challenges of security and state formation. London: Taurus, 103–23.Google Scholar
Jorba, L. & Bimba, B.. 2012. ‘The impact of digital media on citizenship from a global perspective’, in Anduzia, E., Jensen, M.J. & Jorba, L., eds. Digital Media and Political Engagement Worldwide: a comparative study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 16–38.Google Scholar
Koc-Michalska, K., Lilleker, D.G. & Vedel, T.. 2016. ‘Civic political engagement and social change in the new digital age’, New Media & Society 18, 9: 1807–16.Google Scholar
Leonardi, C. 2013. Dealing with Government in South Sudan: histories of chiefship, community and state. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer.Google Scholar
McLeod, D.M. 2001. ‘Values, communication behavior, and political participation’, Political Communication 18, 3: 273–300.Google Scholar
McMichael, G. 2016. ‘Land conflict and informal settlements in Juba, South Sudan’, Urban Studies 53, 13: 2721–37.Google Scholar
Ndangam, L.N. 2006. ‘Web Review: it's not all Africa @ allafrica.com’, Global Media and Communication 2, 2: 251–6.Google Scholar
Nichols, M. 2017. ‘U.S. slams South Sudan's Kiir over ‘man-made’ famine, urges truce’. <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southsudan-unrest-un-usa-idUSKBN17R2G0>, accessed 25.7.2018.,+accessed+25.7.2018.>Google Scholar
Oluoch, F. 2016. ‘South Sudan facing unrest over delayed salaries’. <http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/South-Sudan-facing-unrest-over-delayed-salaries--/2558-3267300-36i90t/index.html>, accessed 30.6.3016.,+accessed+30.6.3016.>Google Scholar
Parks, L. & Mukherjee, R.. 2017. ‘From platform jumping to self-censorship: internet freedom, social media, and circumvention practices in Zambia’, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 14, 3: 221–37.Google Scholar
Ranganathan, R.B. & Briceño-Garmendia, C.. 2011. ‘South Sudan's infrastructure: a continental perspective’, Policy Research Working Papers, World Bank.Google Scholar
Reisigl, M. & Wodak, R.. 2001. Discourse and Discrimination. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Riak, M.M. 2013. ‘Reversing the trend of corruption in South Sudan: is Rwanda a suitable model?’ Journal of Developing Societies 29, 4: 487–501.Google Scholar
Reporters without Borders. 2016a. ‘South Sudan’. <https://rsf.org/en/south-sudan>, accessed 27.5.2017.,+accessed+27.5.2017.>Google Scholar
Reporters without Borders. 2016b. ‘2016 World Press Freedom Index: a “deep and disturbing” decline in media freedom’. <https://rsf.org/en/reports/2016-world-press-freedom-index-deep-and-disturbing-decline-media-freedom>, accessed 27.6.2018.,+accessed+27.6.2018.>Google Scholar
Republic of South Sudan (RSS). 2011. Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan. Juba: RSS.Google Scholar
Republic of South Sudan (RSS). 2015. Establishment Order 36/2015, Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan 2011, Amendment No.2. Juba: RSS.Google Scholar
Roessler, P.G. 2016. Ethnic Politics and State Power in Africa: the logic of the coup-civil war trap. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rolandsen, Ø.H. 2005. Guerrilla Government: political changes in the southern Sudan during the 1990s. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.Google Scholar
Salman, S.M.A. 2013. ‘South Sudan road to independence: broken promises and lost opportunities’, Global Business and Development Law Journal 26, 2: 343–414.Google Scholar
Sarwar, N. 2012. ‘Post-independence South Sudan: an era of hope and challenges’, Strategic Studies 32: 172–82.Google Scholar
Sieff, K. 2016. ‘U.N. approves big increase in peacekeeping force in South Sudan’. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/un-approves-big-increase-in-peacekeeping-force-in-south-sudan/2016/08/12/2d431556-6095-11e6-84c1-6d27287896b5_story.html>, accessed 27.6.2018.,+accessed+27.6.2018.>Google Scholar
Stimson Center. 2016. The 28 states system in South Sudan. Washington, DC: Stimson Center.Google Scholar
Sudan Tribune. 2015a. ‘South Sudan's warring parties trade accusations of hostilities’. <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article57068>, accessed 27.4.2017.,+accessed+27.4.2017.>Google Scholar
Sudan Tribune. 2015b. ‘EU urges S. Sudan's Kiir to suspend unilateral decree over creation of 28 states’. <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article56621>, accessed 7.10.2015.,+accessed+7.10.2015.>Google Scholar
Sudan Tribune. 2016. ‘Plural news and views on Sudan’. <http://www.sudantribune.com/>, accessed 27.6.2016.,+accessed+27.6.2016.>Google Scholar
Sudan Tribune. 2017. ‘South Sudanese president creates four more states’. <http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article61403>, accessed 16.1.2018.,+accessed+16.1.2018.>Google Scholar
United Nations News. 2017. ‘Famine declared in region of South Sudan – UN’. <https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/02/551812-famine-declared-region-south-sudan-un>, accessed 27.6.2018.,+accessed+27.6.2018.>Google Scholar
Van Dijk, T. 1997. ‘What is political discourse analysis?’ Belgian Journal of Linguistics 11, 1: 11–52.Google Scholar
Van Eemeren, F.H., Grootendorst, R., Snoeck, H.A.F., Blair, J., Anthony, J., Ralph, H., Krabbe, E.C.W., Plantin, C., Walton, D.N., Willard, C.A., Woods, J. & Zarefsky, D.. 1996. Fundamentals of Argumentation Theory: a handbook of historical backgrounds and contemporary developments. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Van Eemeren, F., Garssen, B., Krabbe, E.C.W., Henkemans, A.F.S., Verheij, B. & Wagemans, J.H.M.. 2014. Handbook of Argumentation Theory. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Van Rees, M.A. 2007. ‘Discourse analysis and argumentation theory: the case of television talk’, Journal of Pragmatics 39, 8: 1454–63.Google Scholar
Walton, D.N. 1990. Practical Reasoning: goal-driven, knowledge-based, action-guiding argumentation. Savage, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Walton, D.N. 1995. A Pragmatic Theory of Fallacy. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Walton, D.N. 1996. ‘Practical reasoning and the structure of fear appeal arguments’, Philosophy & Rhetoric 29, 4: 301–13.Google Scholar
Walton, D.N. 2007. Media Argumentation: dialectic, persuasion, and rhetoric. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wodak, R. & Meyer, M.. 2001. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. Sage.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2017. Opportunities for Improving Urban Service Delivery in South Sudan: a tale of two cities. Part I: Service Delivery Status Report. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Aljazeera, Doha; Sudan Tribune, Paris; Gurtong, Juba; United Nations News, New York.Google Scholar
Aljazeera, Doha; Sudan Tribune, Paris; Gurtong, Juba; United Nations News, New York.Google Scholar