South Sudan’s Way Forward: Philosophical Lessons on How Societies Transform Themselves
By Joe Mabor, Germany
Friday, 31 October 2025 (PW) — Every society reaches a low point it must pause and ask itself why everything is going wrong and what progress truly means. That moment is now for South Sudan. With South Sudan’s Indepedence on July 9, 2011 overshowed by years of communal and political conflicts, corruption and lack of functioning instituitions and infrustucture, and over 80% of population living below poverty line by 2025 World Backend estimates, the question is not only how to rebuild the state, but also how to transform the South Sudanese society which in many ways is still trapped in the pre-industrial era.
Throughout history, philosophers have wrestled with this same question: How do societies transform themselves? Their wisdom offers timeless lessons for a country like South Sudan, where true progress must not only mean good governance, but transforming the whole society to catch up with the rest of the world already in the industrial and post-industrial era.
Thinkers such as Plato and Confucius have argued that good leadership is the foundation of a just society. They believed that progress depends primarily on strong and virtuous leadership. Pluto in his book, the Republic, said that that societies rise or fall with the morality and wisdom of their rulers. He envision the rulers as phiosopher-kings guided by truth and reason.
The lession learned here is that when a government leads with wisdom, integrity and vision, it can transform a nation’s moral and institutional foundations. In South Sudan where literacy rate is less than 35%, we need the philosopher-kings-leaders more than ever. This is because the government is the most powerful and effective tool to transform our society for good as it has resources and capacity to do so.
But, history has shown that leadership can lose its moral compass and neglects its role in the societal transformation. What happen if the society is at the mercy of political elites who only want to accommulate power and resources and cares little about people? What if the leaders are not benevolent or perhabs they just don’t have the skillset to lead the transformation? Then, the people themselves must become the conscience of the nation and the driving engine for change.
Some modern phiosophers shifted focus from rules to systems and citizens . They argued that true progress comes from people in what Jean-Jacques Rousseaues termed as “general will” – the collective desire of the people to live justly and define a common good. In India for example, Mahatma Gandhi, proved that a morally awakened society can challenge injustice through unity and discipline. He inspired the masses and used nonviolent means to compaign for the Independence of India.
I didn’t even have to mention Gandhi as an example for South Sudan itself was born out of this the same “general will” developed by “Junubin” when they collectively fought for the freedom leading to our Independence on July 9, 2011.
John Locke argued that society progresses when people hold leaders accountable through consent and law. So if we don’t hold leaders accountable because they are our uncles or kinmen, then justice and truth are compromised, and the leaders rule with impunity.
The failure of a country cannot only be blamed on the leadership; the people have a duty to shape leadership when it fails to serve the common good. This requires civic participation, education, and the moral courage to hold leaders accountable.
One of the local chiefs in Rumbek East called Mangar Machiek during the libraration asked our late hero, Dr. John Garang, a deeply philosophical question that attempt to understand why some SPLM/A members were malnourished and others looked well fed when they were all in the bush.
“Garang e ngu e kɔc cuai kët kët”? (“Garang, why are you people in the SPLM/A selectively fat?”) These are the kind of questions we should be asking our leaders now. The oil has been flowing – Where are the good roads you promised us? Why are civil servants unpaid for months? You have been collecting taxes – Where are the schools and the hospitals?
14th-century thinker, Ibn Khaldun, taught that societies rise through social cohesion and unity and fall when that unity weakens. In South Sudan, unity is our greatest resource, yet it is often undermined by tribalism and mistrust. This is made worst by tribalistic politics that divide the very fabric of our unity.
We must accept the truth: tribalism doesn’t serve our greater good. To transform, we must rebuild solidarity through a shared vision of justice and dignity for all. We must unite for in unity comes the power to question our leaders and hold them accountable. In unity comes the “general will” to define our vision, and take concrete steps to work toward achieving it.
What is currently happening in South Sudan is not unique but common to postcolonial countires. Thinker, Frantz Fanon, warned that postcolonial nations fail when citizens replace foreign masters with local elites who behave the same way. The real revolution, he said, is a mentalone of freeing ourselves from the idea that power exists only in government hands. True power lies in a morally conscious , organized and united South Sudanese.
South Sudan’s transformation is a moral duty for both the government and its people. Although the government has the most important role in accelerating the transformation of South Sudan and its people, the people can shape the very government if it fails its duty through civic participation, education, and moral courage to take actions and hold leaders accountable.
We must cultivate virtuous leadership, responsible citizenship, and a culture of unity and accountability.
The writer is a South Sudanese Software Engineer and Architect based in Germany. He can be reached at [email protected] or via website: maboragany.com
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