Challenges of Nation Building in Africa: A Case of South Sudan

The study explored the challenges the South Sudanese are facing in their efforts in nation building based within the context of sirnibr challenges faced by other nations across Africa’s. The theory of social construction was employed to discuss this. It was established that some of the key challenges that bedevil nation building efforts in South Sudan include among others: ethnicity/ tribalism, corruption, lack of robust economic pillars, poor service delivery, poor education systems, religious differences, inadequate national symbols and a general lack of public awareness on the concept of nation building. The thesis utilized both primary and s:::condary sources. A total of 68 respondents were interviewed (See List of Respondents in Appendix I) who included South Sudan citizens and representatives of organizations. The interviews involved a questionnaire (See Appendix Ill). Both qualitative and quantitative data an'"lysis methoc!s were utilized. The study proposed recommendations that included firstly, that the South Sudan government should focus on addressing issues that are a constraint to the nation building process, secondly that the government should design, plan and implement policies that promote economic wealth which will be equitably distributed among the different ethnicity to eliminate growing tensions among different communities in the South and thirdly that the South Sudan government, international partners ·and stakeholders should collectively participate in the nation building process to identify best practices to adopt in promoting a national identity among its populace. lt also included propositions for further research which included the need to conduct further research on the role of internal and external actors in the nation building process in Southern Sudan and the need of researching on the evaluation of the nation building processes as used in South Sudan to measure their effectiveness un national identity among its citizens.