South Sudan: a brutal war The concerns of the political elite revolve around ‘political budgets’ and the price of loyalty When people organise to fight they often frame the reason, and whom they count as friends or enemies, based on ethnic identities. It’s a useful lens, but it is applied perhaps too often. Ethnicity is never a complete explanation for conflict: identity-based mobilisation and animosity are politically constructed. Ethnic identity isn’t simply a card to be played by cunning and cynical politicians—as those who try to ride the tiger of assertive nationalism usually discover to their cost. South Sudan, for…
