This article analyzes how transformations of land governance in the new Republic of South Sudan play into processes of everyday state formation. National land tenure reforms and decentralization policies have increased polarization between local public authorities in and around Yei Town, who vie for legitimacy amongst returning refugees, internally displaced people and migrants arriving in the wake of the civil war. Ambiguously worded national policies and shifts in the composition of the population provide a structure of opportunity that works largely to the advantage of chiefs and at the expense of other, more localized customary authorities. Our analysis shows how chiefly and state power are mutually reinforcing. Evolving notions of community land rights further legitimize the centrality of the state in land governance. Highlighting the institutional competition between state and customary authorities, as well as among customary authorities, our findings emphasize the centrality of the state – however limited its presence may be – in land governance, and nuance political economy analyses that overemphasize the role of ethnicity in land contestation in South Sudan.

中文翻译：

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改变土地治理并加强南苏丹的国家

本文分析了新南苏丹共和国土地治理的转变如何在日常国家形成过程中发挥作用。国家土地所有制改革和权力下放政策加剧了耶伊镇及其周边地方公共当局之间的两极分化，他们在返回的难民、国内流离失所者和内战后抵达的移民之间争夺合法性。措辞含糊的国家政策和人口构成的变化提供了一种机会结构，这种结构在很大程度上对酋长有利，而以牺牲其他更本地化的习惯当局为代价。我们的分析表明，主要权力和国家权力是如何相辅相成的。不断发展的社区土地权利概念进一步使国家在土地治理中的中心地位合法化。